Marketing Tactics

NEW YORK — Macy’s chairman, president and CEO is walking on air these days as the nation’s leading department store chain continues to deliver impressive results amid a recessionary economy that has other operators floundering for sales.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy officially has announced the launch of its exclusive beauty collection, Nuance Salma Hayek, developed in partnership with actress Salma Hayek.

The collection is comprised of more than 100 products within four categories — skin care, cosmetics, hair care and body — and is available only at CVS/pharmacy locations nationwide and online at CVS.com/NuanceSalmaHayek. Prices range between $2.99 and $19.99.

ST. LOUIS — Save-A-Lot, the hard-discount, limited-assortment grocery chain owned by Supervalu, on Tuesday dispatched two "brand ambassadors" on the Save-A-Lot Fuel Your Family Road Trip. The "Road Scholars" will make pitstops at Save-A-Lot locations in 10 cities between Aug. 7 and Aug. 28 to help raise awareness that Save-A-Lot can be the go-to source for affordable, high-quality food.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kenmore's new Elite Signature Trio refrigerator model boasts extra capacity, smart features and a fresh design that consumers have come to expect from kitchen appliances, the company said.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — HSN announced that it has launched a new campaign inviting customers to determine what products are featured in its new specialty More to Like" online store, found at HSN.com/like. Products are determined based on "likes" on the HSN.com, HSN Mobile or HSN's Facebook page.

New York City -- Walgreens plans to start selling health insurance to customers this fall, according to CNN Money.

The drugstore chain will sell health insurance products with different price ranges and coverage levels through a private health insurance exchange, the report said.

To read the full story, go to money.cnn.com/2011/08/09/news/companies/walgreens_health_insurance/

San Francisco -- Gap will open two Athleta store this week in Manhattan’s Upper East and Upper West side neighborhoods. The openings mark the women’s active wear brand’s entry into the East Coast market, and support Athleta’s plan to open up to 50 stores by 2013.

“Entering New York is a significant milestone for us as we aim to grow our share of the $31 billion women’s active wear market,” said Scott Key, senior vice president and general manager of Athleta.

Overall, there was an 8 % decline in the number of pages per market across the retailer set, and a 4% decline in number of inserts. Pages being down can be attributed to a steep decline in Kohl’s and Sears' number of pages per market, while the decline in number of inserts was due to Home Depot and Staples decreasing their drops.

Home Depot and Safeway adopted a similar strategy, reducing the number inserts per market in July 2011 compared with last year, while increasing the number of pages per market. 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Children will be returning to school in a matter of weeks, and many of them will be joining or returning to some sort of sporting activity. Enter Sports Authority, which is answering the need for sporting goods by opening six news stores on Aug. 13. The six new stores will open in five states nationwide, in the major markets of Miami, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Chicago and Milwaukee, the company reported.

The store locations will be as follows:

• Miami Beach, Fla. at 3401 N. Miami Ave.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After exceeding more than $2 million in food and donations, Meijer announced that it once again has launched the Simply Give campaign throughout its stores.