Marketing Tactics

New York City -- Gap’s Old Navy unit will roll out more than 1,000 sports-oriented store-within-stores on Tuesday, selling branded goods of more than 70 Division I schools, as well as National Football League teams.

The Super Fan Nation in-store concepts are being launched with a seven-figure marketing campaign that will include advertising at college stadiums and arenas, in-store appearances by college bands, cheerleaders and mascots, and a 10-day national television advertising campaign.

New York City -- Marketing technology company SpyderLynk and Momentum Worldwide announced Friday that Office Depot has launched a national back-to-school mobile campaign that was developed by Momentum, using SpyderLynk’s 2D mobile barcode SnapTag technology.

The campaign offers back-to-school shoppers the opportunity to save through in-store mobile gift card giveaways and other discounts.

Seattle -- Cooking retailer Sur La Table said Monday it will open a flagship store in Hearst Tower, New York City, in late 2011.

The chain’s first NYC space opened in SoHo in 2005 and a second store in the Upper East Side opened in 2010.

The new store will include Sur La Table’s largest kitchen and cooking class program. Customers will be able to take cooking classes, as well as attend events with media partners and renowned chefs from around the world. Cooking classes are currently slated to start in early December.

Reston, Va. -- Survey results released Monday by ComScore showed that approximately 6.2% of 14 million mobile phone users have scanned a quick response or bar code on their mobile device.

Among 14,452 users surveyed in that have scanned a QR or bar code, 58% of them scanned a code at home, while 39.4% and 24.5% of respondents have scanned codes at a retail store or grocery store, respectively. As far as what they scanned, 49.4% said they scanned a QR or bar code found in a newspaper or magazine, while 35.3% scanned product packaging.

New York City -- Monday, Aug. 15, is the deadline to complete the Chain Store Age/Forest City/Alexander Babbage social media survey, designed to find out what retailers nationwide are doing in terms of social, mobile and other digital media initiatives.

By completing the survey, you will automatically be entered to win a free iPad! Results of the survey will be published in the October issue of Chain Store Age.

Click here to take the survey.

New York City -- Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, cancelled a speech he was to give Friday at The Global Leadership Summit, an annual leadership summit organized by megachurch Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill., after an online petition condemned the congregation as anti-gay. The church denies the charges.

The annual event draws tens of thousands of viewers via satellite. Past speakers have included former GE's Jack Welch former president Bill Clinton.

New York City -- Target announced that the British take-out chain Pret A Manager will open a location in CityTarget in Chicago.

The new, smaller Target format is set to open in the Windy City in 2012.

Dallas -- Zale Corp. and designer Vera Wang announced they are teaming up on an exclusive line of diamond bridal jewelry.

The new Vera Wang Love collection will include diamond engagement rings, matching wedding bands and solitaire bridal jewelry. Each ring will have the Vera Wang Love logo, and every engagement ring will include a blue sapphire.

The collection will be sold only at Zale stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The jewelry will be in United States and Puerto Rico stores in October.
 

Seattle -- Nordstrom reported Thursday that net income for its second quarter rose 20% to $175 million, compared with $146 million in the year earlier period.

Revenue surged 12.4% to $2.72 billion, benefited by strong promotions and matching Wall Street estimates. Same-store sales rose a solid 7.3%. The department store retailer has raised its profit outlook for the full year.

Its outlet concept Nordstrom Rack saw net sales increase 23.4% to $92 million, and same-store sales rose 4.8%.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Co. reported Friday that net income for the quarter ended July 30 was flat at $14 million, citing aggressive markdowns for a lackluster performance that fell below Wall Street expectations.

Revenue dipped to $3.91 billion from $3.94 billion in the year-ago period. Same-store sales increased 1.5%.

According to J.C. Penney, its focus on the middle-to-lower-income shoppers creates a challenge, as those consumers face economic uncertainty heading into the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.