Marketing Tactics

While hunger relief organizations are quick to point out that one in six American’s suffer from “food insecurity,” the Center for Science in the Public Interest is deriding retailers’ for contributing to the nation’s obesity epidemic.

New data from JLL’s 2014 Holiday Sentiment Report, which includes feedback from 800 largely national or global retailers in JLL-managed shopping centers across the United States, suggests retailers are optimistic about store performance, but are fighting the “survival of the fittest” match.  

San Jose, Calif. -- Verifone and MasterCard are providing Las Vegas taxi cab passengers with card-linked offers in a pilot program running from from Nov. 2-6. Targeted offers from merchants, in this case The Hard Rock Café on the Las Vegas strip, the Bali Hai and Royal Links golf courses and Dream Racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, are displayed to taxi passengers on VNET–Taxi TV screens integrated with Verifone payment terminals.   

Whole Foods has a tendency to zig when other retailers zag and it is doing just that with a new line PBS Kids branded toys this holiday season.

No bright shiny plastic toys will be found on Whole Foods shelves. Instead, the natural grocer struck a deal with PBS Kids to offer a line of educational and sustainable wooden toys and plush products for kids ages six months to three years. Each item in the PBS Kids line is made with safe, non-toxic materials and inks, and all packaging is made from recycled materials, according to the companies.

When it comes to science and learning, it’s ok to fool around, according to Barnes & Noble.  The nation’s largest retail bookseller and the provider of digital content and educational products is launching a one-of-kind Educational Toys and Games Science Center in select stores nationwide and online. 

Seattle –- Amazon.com will start offering daily Black Friday deals on Saturday, Nov. 1. Amazon will also start offering two Deals of the Day every day through Monday, Dec. 22.  

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp extended its $80-a-share tender offer to acquire rival Family Dollar Stores Inc. from Oct. 31, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2014, unless further extended. It is the second time Dollar General has extended its offer.     About 4 million shares, or some 3.6% of Family Dollar's total share capital of about 114 million, had been validly tendered into the offer as of Oct. 30, Dollar General said in a statement.