Social Media

Jones Lang LaSalle, Atlanta, has launched its annual “Spread the Cheer” holiday campaign -- featuring digital media innovations -- across its portfolio of managed shopping centers.

To engage shoppers and drive sales and traffic during the most important retail season of the year, the firm will share insider intelligence on the best products and offers at its shopping centers through e-blasts, social media and text messages while also engaging them with events, giveaways and random acts of kindness across its 98 million-sq.-ft. nationwide retail portfolio.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. That seems to be the message implied in Walmart’s guidance for fourth-quarter same-store sales in a range of flat to up 2%. The company’s comps expectations follow a third-quarter increase of 1.3% that ended a two-year string of negative results, but appear rather muted against the backdrop of talk about the company’s gathering momentum, the effectiveness of strategies and solid positioning for the holidays.

Washington, D.C. -- A survey released Thursday by the National Retail Federation said that the number of people “definitely” shopping stores and websites on Black Friday as jumped to 33%, from 27% in 2010.

WASHINGTON — Up to 152 million people plan to shop Black Friday Weekend, compared with the 138 million who planned to do so last year, according to a preliminary Black Friday shopping survey, conducted for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch. According to the survey, 74 million people say they will definitely hit the stores and another 77 million are waiting to see if the bargains are worth the hassle of Black Friday.

Chicago -- According to a BDO USA survey of 100 CMOs at leading U.S. retailers, just 27% expect to see an increase in Black Friday sales, down from 38% in 2010.

Similarly, only 24% project an increase in Cyber Monday sales, with the vast majority (74%) expecting flat sales. Overall, CMOs project a 1.6% increase in Black Friday sales (down from 3.8% in 2010) and a 2.5% increase in Cyber Monday sales.

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us has become the latest retailer to join the trend of starting "Black Friday" on Thanksgiving night. The company announced that, for the first time, it will open its doors at 9 p.m. on Nov. 24. On Nov. 24, customers will also find the company's Thanksgiving-weekend circular, whichis filled with more than $12,500 in savings, including doorbusters, Thursday through Saturday discounts and free gift-with-purchase offers, Toys"R'Us said.

By Jacqueline Zenn, [email protected]

SECAUCUS, N.J. — The Children's Place Retail Stores has announced the appointment of Lori Tauber Marcus as SVP chief marketing officer, effective Nov. 16. She will be responsible for brand strategy, e-commerce, CRM, creative services, public relations, social media and visual merchandising. She will report directly to Jane Elfers, president and CEO.