Marketing Tactics

A tacky holiday sweater – and most of us have one – can make for an innovative mall marketing campaign.

Inland US Management, Inland Southwest Management and Inland Pacific Property Services, subsidiaries of Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust, have kicked off an ugly sweater contest on its holiday website, HolidayFunForAll.com, developed in partnership with Studio 318 out of San Diego. Contest participants are asked to answer a few basic questions and upload a photo of their worst “knitmare” to the website.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Walmart is looking to help holiday shoppers find the perfect gift this season with the launch of a new social shopping application.

New York City -- The discount and wholesale club sector was hit and miss in November, as Costco shone with a 9% rise in same-store sales for the month, but Target missed Wall Street expectations with a weak gain.

Boston -- A new survey by website technology company Modapt and communications firm Morrissey & Co., evaluating mobile phone users’ holiday shopping habits and plans, found that more than half of respondents are making purchases using their mobile devices. Nearly one quarter of those surveyed have used mobile devices in the past to purchase holiday gifts.

The results also show that during the holiday season:

CHICAGO — Eva Kohn of Valassis Inc. and Subriana Pierce of Supervalu were named co-chairs of the Network of Executive Women CPG Retail Diversity Forum 2012 scheduled for March 6 to 8 in Dallas. The NEW Diversity Forum, formerly the Multicultural Workforce Conference, is the consumer products and retail industry’s leading diversity and inclusion event.

By Bill Dundas, International Sign Association

FORT WORTH, Texas — Comps continue to improve at Pier 1 Imports, thanks to increased traffic and average ticket size. The company reported that comparable-store sales for the third quarter increased 7%. This was on top of a 10.2% comps increase in the prior-year period. Total sales for the quarter increased 8.2% to $383 million compared with $354 million in the year-ago quarter.

New York City -- In a heavy promotional environment starring early sales and steep discounting, the department store players turned in mixed performances in November. Industry-wide retail sales on Black Friday rose 7% to $11.4 billion, the largest amount ever spent, according to ShopperTrak.