Marketing Tactics

Austin, Texas -- Golfsmith International said Tuesday that it has established a partnership with The MoreGolf Group – South Africa’s largest golf retailer – as part of a global strategy toward growth.

At 78 stores, Golfsmith is the largest golf specialty retailer in the United States. It said it will reinvest the income generated from the just-announced partnership into its core U.S. business.

The Associated Press reported last week that First Lady Michelle Obama was sighted shopping incognito at a D.C. area Target store wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. Secret Service agents arrived about a half-hour before Mrs. Obama, who walked in through the main entrance with an assistant and spent 30 to 40 minutes shopping and pushing her own cart, according to AP.

An opening salvo has been fired in the Black Friday battle and this one emanated from South Florida where the massive Sawgrass Mills outlet mall announced it will stay open around the clock beginning at 10 p.m. on Thanskgiving day. The mall is home to a Super Target and about 350 other stores.

The revelation this week that Target chief marketing officer Michael Francis had jumped ship to become president at JCPenney was a surprising development that sucked some of the oxygen out of the retailer’s Minneapolis headquarters. Target is all about marketing and Francis was instrumental in shaping some of the most interesting customer communications the marketing world saw during the past decade. He was so highly thought of that earlier this year he was tapped to lead Target’s entry into Canada, arguably the company’s most significant longer term growth driver.

The pricing gap between Target and Walmart narrowed last month to a scant 1.7% as Walmart took prices up slightly during August while Target did the opposite, according to a monthly survey by the retail research team at Credit Suisse.

Wayne, N.J. — Ahead of the holiday season, Toys"R"Us announced that it will expand its layaway program and incorporate flexible payment options in order to spur holiday sales. The retailer is offering its layaway service along with Bill Me Later to enable customers to complete purchase through a series of smaller payments over time.

Toys"R"Us introduced layaway in 2009 for such big-ticket items as bicycles and swing sets and on Oct. 15 will expand the program to include playthings in 450 of its 600 stores.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu announced that it has committed $1 million to sponsor 1,542 youth sports teams in markets where its Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Jewel-Osco and Shaws/Star Market stores operate. 

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Consumers are busier than ever and are inclined to spend as little time shopping for groceries as possible, so attracting them enough to stop and sample a new product is a challenge. Albertsons is looking to address that issue by teaming with Daymon Interactions, a consumer event marketing company, to develop a new in-house product sampling and event marketing program.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open four new locations in the greater Chicago area on March 8, 2014. These openings bring the total number of Chicago area stores to 35 for the retailer.  

New York City -- Centro Properties Group US announced it has officially changed its name to Brixmor Property Group, Inc., effective immediately. 

The name change follows the acquisition of the company in June by an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI L.P. 

Brixmor is the second largest owner of community and neighborhood shopping centers in the United States with 585 properties aggregating approximately 92 million sq. ft.