Marketing Tactics

New York -- The average household expenditure on all types of back-to-school items is expected to be about $285 this year, with 39% of consumers planning to spend more than last year and 45% planning to spend about the same. According to a new study from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman-Sachs, 29% of households surveyed have started to shop for back-to-school items, which is lower than the 33% that had started at this time last year but more than in any other year since 2004.

San Francisco – PBteen, a subsidiary of the Pottery Barn brand of Williams-Sonoma Inc., will open its first Annapolis, Md., store at the Westfield Annapolis shopping center on July 20. The store will include the PBteen Design Lab, which allows shoppers to digitally create room designs using drag-and-drop technology on a computer monitor.

Deerfield Park, Ill. – Walgreens, as well as Boston-area grocery chain Roche Bros. and convenience chain Tedeschi Stores, have indicated they will join CVS in refusing to sell the upcoming Aug. 3 issue of Rolling Stone that features a cover photo of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Walgreens made an announcement yesterday afternoon on Twitter, while the Boston Globe reported that Roche Bros. and Tedeschi would also decline to sell the controversial issue.

Average spending per school age child is expected to decline this year from 2012 levels, according to the National Retail Federation, setting the stage for heightened competition in an already intensely competitive seasonal selling period.

NRF said spending per child in grades K-12 would decline to $634 in 2013 compared to $688 last year and spending per college student would decline to $836 from $907. The trade group forecast total K-12 spending of $26.7 billion and total back-to-college spending of $45.8 billion for a combined market size of $72.5 billion.

HUDSON, Ohio — Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores is turning 70, and to mark the special anniversary the specialty fabric and craft retailer is launching a “Share Your Story” sweepstakes on its Facebook page. 

Customers share their favorite Jo-Ann memories and each week, from July 28 through August 19, two random entrants will be chosen to win $100 Jo-Ann gift cards for a total of six winners. No purchase is necessary to enter or win.

Given the choice of shopping at only one retailer for the rest of their lives, millennial parents chose Walmart over several other popular retailers.
The study of the millenials, those age 25 to 34, was conducted by Vision Critical, and not surprisingly showed the demographic group changed purchasing habits and behaviors after starting a family.

MINNEAPOLIS — According to Kantar Media’s Marx report, retailer promotion activity continued to grow with a 21.6% increase to more than 11.3 billion pages in the first half of 2013, with Walmart leading in retailer activity.

Following on Walmart’s heels were Walgreens, Target and Family Dollar.

The future of multichannel commerce at Walmart will be detailed next week in the mountains of Colorado where the retailer’s two top digital executives are scheduled to participate in a conference hosted by Fortune.

The exclusive — and sold out — three day event held at the Aspen Institute and will feature Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Walmart Global eCommerce and Karenann Terrell, EVP and chief information officer, discussing the topic of, “How does technology fuel the success of both on-and offline at the world’s largest retailer.”

The Global Market Development Center has appointed Jason Weber as its new member services manager and Joshua Manweiler as its new communications specialist as part of its strategy to enhance membership services. 

There are a wide range of experiments in the marketplace right now, and plenty of angst related to same-day delivery of products and consumer’s desire for more immediate e-commerce gratification. Walmart, Amazon and others appear intent on unlocking what is seen by some as the next big thing in retail, but an interesting piece by Fox Business bring a new perspective to whether shoppers care. Click here to read more.