Social Media

Looking to capitalize on the immense popularity of the PBS show Downton Abbey, Cost Plus World Market is having an online tea party and expanding its range of Downton Abbey products just in time for the holiday shopping season.

New York – Black Friday was a more social event than Cyber Monday, with 3.5 million tweets and 838 million impressions compared to 839,000 tweets and 309 million impressions. According to a study from StatSocial, women were more likely than men to socially comment on both events, accounting for 59% of

Black Friday comments and 63% of Cyber Monday comments.

Chicago - Overall marketing and advertising budgets at leading U.S. retailers will rise by 1.% this year, compared to a decline of .98% in 2013, with 72% of retailers expecting to spend about the same amount on marketing and advertising compared to last year, according to the BDO Retail Compass Survey of CMOs, by BDO USA.

Just like many of the products sold in its stores, TJX Companies is offering a limited duration holiday helpline staffed by folks who presume to know the perfect gift for anonymous recipients.

T.J. Maxx and Marshalls this week said they are bringing back their “Holiday Gift Hotline” to combat the issue they identified in a survey of people buying uninventive gifts. The hotline is a free service only available for limited hours Dec. 4-7 and is designed to provide shoppers with a variety of gift ideas to help them give gifts people really want to receive.

Move over pumpkin pie: Black Friday fervor seemed to stir up more conversations on social media than the Thanksgiving holiday itself.

According to Salesforce.com, social media posts about Black Friday shopping numbered 2.7 million. Roughly 278,000 posts were stamped with the hashtag "#blackfriday" and another 8,000 were labeled "#deals," vs. just 85,000 with "#Thanksgiving."

There were also about 1.84 million holiday shopping posts on Thanksgiving Day, and about 719,000 posts the day before Thanksgiving.

To celebrate the busiest monogramming season of the year, Lands’ End is launching #MonogramMonday.