Marketing Tactics

A 2.9% third quarter same store sales increase and the sale of its credit card business pushed Target’s third quarter profit up 17.6% to 96 cents a share.

Total sales increased 3.4% to $16.6 billion in third quarter due to the 2.9% comp increase and the benefit of a net increase of 18 stores compared to the prior year. Target ended the period with 1,781 stores and was up against a challenging prior year comparison when comps advanced 4.3%.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for families this holiday season.

The company plans to have in stock hundreds of toys and gifts priced at $10 or less at its more than 7,000 nationwide locations. The single price point strategy is designed to appeal to the large segment of shoppers hard-hit by the economy and who need stretch their holiday budgets.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Kellogg plans to debut new snacks, including cereal bars, crackers, crisps and cookies, in 2013.

"We have such a strong line-up of snack brands, including Pringles, Cheez-it, Special K, Keebler and Nutri-Grain," said Alan Gravely, SVP of marketing and innovation for Kellogg Snacks. "So we are building off these brands with new products that reflect our deep understanding of people's evolving taste preferences and nutrition needs."

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Dick’s Sporting Goods has announced its first-ever "Get Winter Ready" consumer promotion.

Dick’s has teamed up with The North Face and Columbia Sportswear as part of the program's sweepstakes, and will be giving away two one-of-kind prize packages. One includes a chance to join professional skier Tom Wallisch at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., and the other offers a VIP experience at the 2013 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup in Park City, Utah.

Indianapolis -- One-in-five consumers is now "showrooming," according to new research by Aprimo, a Teradata in collaboration with Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru. Of those consumers already showrooming, 33% say they ultimately used the information to buy elsewhere. The trend is only expected to continue growing, too, as 96% say they plan to use their smart phone to research prices the same way or more in the future.

Chicago -- Retailers project a 3.1% increase in sales on Black Friday, according to a survey of top retail chief marketing officers by BDO USA, LLP. This optimism follows last year's modest projection of 1.6% growth, which preceded record sales over Thanksgiving weekend.

New York -- Tommy Bahama Group Inc. said Thursday its first Tommy Bahama global flagship store will open on Nov. 17 at 551 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

By Victor Ho, CEO, FiveStars

Vince Bove was named SVP and chief marketing officer at Reflect, a Dallas-based provider of software for digital signage networks at some of the nation’s leading retailers.

In his role as SVP, Bove will be responsible for business development and sales in the central and western United States.　In his capacity as chief marketing officer, he will assist Reflect clients with insightful shopper engagement strategies for their brand at the point-of-sale, and help them utilize the capabilities of the Reflect product line.

The overall trend has been similar to what we saw last month with a marginal decrease in the number of circulars, while increases were seen in page counts per market. Average pages per market saw 10% increase this year October when compared with the same month last year.