Social Media

Seattle – The retail industry is expected to benefit from mobile commerce, free shipping offers, in-store pickup promotions and e-commerce videos during the 2014 holiday season. According to global analytics and insights firm Blueocean Intelligence, the top six digital and social media trends that will drive sales for retailers in the upcoming holiday season are:

Lifestyle footwear and accessories brand Cole Haan has entered into a multiyear partnership with three ballerinas of the New York City Ballet for its Cole Haan Avery Ballet Studio Collection.

The collection re-materializes the classic Avery Ballet Flat, according to the brand, and features product inspired and co-created by Principal Dancers Sara Mearns and Megan Fairchild, as well as Gretchen Smith of the Corps de Ballet.

Boston – UsTrendy, a fashion e-commerce site with 20,000 designers from more than 100 countries posting their items for sale and receiving funding along with promotion for their clothing lines, is launching several new customer experience features in fourth quarter 2014.

These include:

Purchasers can customize clothing to fit by entering their measurements. They can also adjust the style of a garment, according to the designer’s choices.

The Skippy peanut butter brand is launching a multifaceted regional ad campaign — its first in more than five years and the first ever under Hormel Foods ownership.

After undergoing global positioning research for the Skippy brand, Hormel Foods decided to bring to life “the simple joy of eating peanut butter” across various brand platforms, from marketing to product innovations, and of course, in the new multimedia advertising campaign.

McLean, Va. - Digital identity solution provider ID.me has unveiled its new retail rewards marketplace, which helps retailers hyper-target influencers and consumer segments with exclusive offers that are protected from fraud. The new product extends ID.me’s coverage from niche affinity groups like the military and students to all consumers.

Appliance, electronics and furniture retailer Hhgregg is looking to drive traffic to its stores via a partnership with the Chicago Bears that will award seven fans with a VIP game-day experience.

In addition, as a partner of the team, the inaugural Chicago Bears’ street team will be named the Chicago Bears Monster Squad powered by Hhgregg.

Digital identity solution provider ID.me has unveiled its new retail rewards marketplace, which helps retail brands hyper-target valuable influencers and consumer segments with exclusive offers that are protected from fraud.

L'Oréal USA Women in Digital, a program that recruits, supports and promotes female entrepreneurs in technology, has announced the three new companies that have been selected as winners of its 2014 NEXT Generation Awards.

The winners — GLAMSQUAD, Jibo and Shareablee — were honored Thursday evening at an event in New York City hosted by athlete, fashion pioneer, actress and L'Oreal Paris spokeswoman Aimee Mullins, to celebrate both established and up-and-coming female leaders in technology.