Marketing Tactics

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears is launching Now + Here, a fast fashion shop available in Sears stores across the country, on Sears.com and Shopyourway.com, in the second week of April. The Now + Here shops offer a new shop environment with monthly deliveries.

The fully integrated retail experience extends online with access to exclusive content, including behind the scenes videos and fashion tips.

Dallas -- Alliance Data Systems Corp announced that its retail services business, which manages more than 130 private label and co-brand credit programs, has signed a new multi-year agreement to provide private label credit card services for women’s fashion online and catalog retailer Venus.

Predominantly an online soft-goods retailer, Venus is experiencing double-digit growth by focusing on fashion-forward merchandising trends, expanding into new fashion categories, and appealing to a customer demographic with whom digital channels resonate.

Columbus, Ohio – DSW Inc. opens three new stores April 3. The stores will be located in Reading, Pa., Olympia, Wash., and White Plains, N.Y.

DSW Rewards is a free loyalty program in which customers earn certificates toward future DSW purchases and receive special member-only offers. Customers can also participate in a Shoe Lover community on Facebook.

Hamilton, Bermuda – Net income at Signet Jewelers grew 2% to $175.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to $171.8 million in the fourth quarter of the preceding fiscal year. Net sales increased 3% to $1.56 billion from $1.51 billion and same-store sales increased 4%.

During the full fiscal year, net income grew 2% to $368 million from $359.9 million and net sales improved 3% to $4.21 billion from $3.98 billion. Same-store sales rose 4%.

Julie Eddleman, Erik Keptner and Andy Murray are the newest inductees into the Path to Purchase Institute’s Hall of Fame which recognizes industry leaders for their contributions to the field of shopper marketing.

Eddleman, marketing director of North American brands at Procter & Gamble, Keptner, EVP of marketing at Ahold, and Murrary, SVP of creative at Walmart were recognized at a gala event held in conjunction with the Institute’s annual Shopper Marketing Summit in Chicago.

Academy Sports + Outdoors has renewed its multi-year partnership with the Atlanta Braves. The specialty retailer also plans to open two new stores in Cartersville, Ga., April 11 and Douglasville, Ga., May 2.

"We're thrilled about our continued expansion in the Atlanta metro area," said SVP of marketing Anita Sehgal. "Our partnership with the Braves and the two additional stores are clear indicators of Academy's commitment to our ongoing growth in the Atlanta community, Braves fans, and active-minded families throughout Georgia."

New York -- Social media delivers more than wish-list window shopping — it is, essentially, a social-purchasing path for young women that leverages each platform's strength and point of engagement to enhance the shopping process, according to a survey by Teen Vogue. And according to respondents, the future belongs to Instagram. It is the platform most cited as the one that "everyone will be talking about next year," and the clear must-have app this year.

With Apple’s introduction of Airdrop and iBeacon, shopping mall owners, retailers and brands have turned to Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE) and the newest class of location-based mobile advertising opportunities enabled by the technology. As a leading company invested in delivering mobile ubiquity by integrating Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC and QR, Mobiquity Technologies has release of its partner software development kit (SDK) designed to allow retailers and brands to leverage Mobiquity Networks’ Bluetooth LE Beacon network.