Marketing Tactics

New York -- The hot social-sharing site Pinterest has released its first API for developers. It will help stores and brands display which of their items were most frequently and recently pinned. The first partners for the service include Zappos, Walmart, Disney, and Nestle, reflecting how the site is looking to increase revenue generation with advertising and cross-marketing. (An API, short for application programming interface, is code that allows developers to create apps that interface with a popular web service or other software.)

New York -- Macy’s Herald Square store has taken the wraps off a dramatic makeover of its beauty and fragrances department. Re-fashioned within a brand-new 24,000-sq.-ft. space, the new department includes brand new counters, shops and bars for brows, blow-outs and nails.

Washington, D.C. -- Up to 140 million people plan to or will shop over this Thanksgiving weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), a slight decrease from the 147 million who planned to do so last year. According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Black Friday will be the biggest day of the weekend: 69.1% plan to shop on Black Friday, or approximately 97 million shoppers.

Santa Clara, Calif. – Multiple media reports indicate that computer chip manufacturer Intel plans to open a number of pop-up stores selling electronic devices using Intel chips. John Wallace, business line manager of mobile and communications for Intel, announced at a Nov. 13 press event that the company will open its first “Intel Experience” store in the NoLita (North of Little Italy) neighborhood of New York City on Nov. 23.

Destination Maternity Corp. is showing off a new superstore prototype, in Virginia Beach,Va. The 5,000-sq.-ft. store has a "discovery" or open floor plan that offers customers different paths to explore the space. Larger graphics, new fixtures and tables and enhanced fitting rooms  create a modern, inviting environment.  Merchandise is displayed in lifestyle zones, with elevated presentations of categories. There are also new mannequins, and more of them.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are committing $1 million to the Red Cross and Save the Children for emergency relief efforts in response to needs created by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The donation includes funds given by the Walmart Foundation and Walmart's international operations.

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax is opening most stores at 8 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving night. OfficeMax.com will start offering online Black Friday deals at 12:01 a.m. EST Thanksgiving morning.

The OfficeMax Black Friday shopping event will take place for three days from Thursday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 30 in stores and at OfficeMax.com. OfficeMax.com will also host a special online-only, pre-Black Friday sales event at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Sam’s Club was Walmart’s best performing division during the third quarter and holiday plans outlined by president and CEO Rosalind Brewer suggest that could be the case in the fourth quarter as well.

Same store sales at Sam’s increased 1.1% and total sales increased 2.1% to $12.4 billion a while with traffic was up among both business and individual members. Operating profit increased 9.2% to $474 million.

Walmart is stupid to take on Amazon.com head-to-head in too many areas, according to Wharton marketing professor Stephen Hoch who, along with other members of academia and one retail futurist, weigh in on the competitive situation that promises to impact the entire retail industry.

OfficeMax plans to open most of its stores at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Meanwhile, its e-commerce site will begin offering online Black Friday deals at 12:01 a.m. EST Thanksgiving morning.

The OfficeMax Black Friday shopping event will take place for three days from Thursday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 30 in stores and online. OfficeMax.com will also host a special online-only, pre-Black Friday sales event at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 27.