Marketing Tactics

By James McCandless and Kenneth Katz,  X Team International

The recent government shutdown has analysts scrambling to determine how much damage was done to the national economy. From a retail perspective, understanding the scale and scope of the shutdown requires a more thorough understanding of the issues at play; including a closer look at how retailers responded and a breakdown of how the lingering effects of the partial government closure may impact the holiday sales season.

The ripple effect on retail

OurPet's Company, a leading proprietary pet supply company, saw sales in its grocery, mass retail and pet specialty channels grow substantially in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to the same period last year.

The company’s sales were also complemented by higher international sales, which were up more than 42% from the same quarter a year ago.

Yorba Linda, Calif. -- Jon Rosen, executive VP of indoor location analytics technology provider iInside, will provide an in-depth review of how retail traffic analytics work, how retailers benefit from precise shopper traffic insights, how traffic data is operationalized to drive revenue, and how to choose between the many indoor petitioning methods available during a live webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 9:30 a.m. PDT.

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack has pulled out all the stops for its new hometown location in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, opening a retro-styled store that speaks to the heritage of the brand and locale. Set to open Oct. 30, it will be the tenth RadioShack concept store to open nationwide, but the first to feature a custom design.

San Jose, Calif. -- Lance Thornswood, longtime general manager of user experience, e-commerce and creative for Target.com and interactive marketing, has been tapped to head up inRetail, a new division being launched by The Stephenz Group, one of Silicon Valley’s largest independent branding, marketing and digital agencies. The specialized division will address the growing consumer demand for omni-channel retail.

Toys ‘R’ Us plans to launch an online version of its “The Great Big Toys"R"Us Wish Finder” holiday catalog Nov. 2. The retailer is also launching The Toys"R"Us Wish List Wizard, a free iOS and Android app that turns parents’ smartphones into a scanner and lets kids scan items they want in-store for automatic inclusion on a digital wish list.

Promotion and pricing intelligence leader Market Track has acquired Competitrack to bolster its digital and electronic media capabilities and provide richer insights to retailers and consumer goods companies.
 
Chicago-based Market Track provides clients with retail promotion, real-time e-commerce and pricing intelligence solutions in North America while New York-based Competitrack is a leading provider of directly placed product and image data across 22 media channels including TV, print, radio, online display, online video, social and mobile advertising.

Chicago -- Four of the 10 busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, and retailers should prepare accordingly, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics. Additionally, with a shortened shopping season and only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas – down from five last year – retailers must be ready to capture holiday spending during a narrower window of time.