Marketing Tactics

New York -- A mixed economic backdrop is expected to drive modest retail sales growth in the 3% to 4% range in 2015, compared to 5.5% average growth in 2010-2012 and 5.8% in 2002-2006, according to GE Capital. Low- and mid-income households will be particularly constrained by stagnant earnings despite improvements in employment status and the housing market as well as lower gas prices.
 
According to GE Capital, the key trends in retail include the following:

New York -- Customer analytics is a key component to retail success; CSA talked with Buxton's Bill Stinneford at NRF's Big Show in New York City about tech trends and the importance of understanding exactly who your customer is.  

Watch video here.

Sales of an exclusive holiday cookbook will allow Dillard’s to donate more than $900,000 to of Ronald McDonald House Charities.   For the seventh year in a row, Dillard's offered for sale a special edition of the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook to benefit RMHC.   

The Emerging Trends in Retail conference will take place at a new data and time, but the big news is that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Doug McMillon will headline the annual event put on by the Center for Retailing Excellence.  

Sally Beauty Holdings reported decreased profits for the first quarter, but the company’s just-named CEO says new marketing programs will be paying off soon.   Sally Beauty reported a profit of $54.9 million, or 35 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of $58 million, or 35 cents a share last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast a profit of 38 cents a share and sales increase of 3.7 percent to $975.1 million.  

New York -- U.S. retailers seeking to grow business with online shoppers across country borders should look to Canada, according to a report by Borderfree, a provider of international cross-border ecommerce solutions.

PetSmart’s nationally acclaimed initiative to help house the pets of homeless families is expanding.

PetSmart Promise, which helps temporarily homeless families keep all members of their family together -– including their four-legged family members -– is expanding into 16 PetSmart PetsHotel locations nationwide. PetSmart Promise is the result of a collaboration between PetSmart and Family Promise.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney is partnering with InStyle magazine to reinvent its 850 in-store salons nationwide in a move that could help the retailer pump up its volume and increase traction with younger shoppers. The new concept, called The Salon by InStyle, will make its debut in July, at 15 locations across Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Los Angeles.