Marketing Tactics

Dallas -- Zale Corp.’s same-store sales rose 8.5% during the November-December selling period. This figure is a key indicator of a retailer's health because it gauges results at existing stores instead of newly opened ones.

Zale is refocusing its merchandise on diamonds and stepping up training of its workers, said CEO Theo Killion in a Bloomberg report. The company increased the number of salespeople certified by the Diamond Council of America to 2,000, from 800 last year, and plans to add more, he said.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

ENFIELD, Conn. — Lego is bringing a new kind of ninja to game enthusiasts.

Ninjago, the newest Lego family member, combines the best of Lego construction play, action-based competitive play and virtual gaming. Ninjago tells the story of four young ninjas who train under the watchful eye of Sensei Wu to master an ancient martial art — Spinjitzu — the art of spinning into a human tornado, to save the world from the evil Lord Garmadon and his skeleton army.

New York City -- Whole Foods Market is starting to roll out a new range of healthier prepared foods, nutritional scorecards and other changes as part of its return to its healthy eating roots, the Associated Press reported. 

The changes are part of the company’s "Health Starts Here” program. Among the changes Whole Foods is rolling out this year:

Minneapolis -- Two leaders of Target have been appointed to the retailer's executive committee.

Tina Schiel, senior VP enterprise strategy and new business development, was promoted to executive VP stores and will join the executive committee, while Laysha Ward, who will retain her position as Target's community relations president and Target Foundation president, also will join the executive committee.

NEW YORK — Front-of-pack labels may not sway customers from purchasing certain items in stores.

Conducting a study among more than 1,000 shoppers on their opinion of such labels and changes in purchase intent among 25 major brands with and without FOP labeling, HealthFocus International found that 43% of shoppers said that it’s unlikely that FOP labeling will impact their food choices, but some purchase intent scores changed by more than 25%.

New York City -- Affinity Solutions, a provider of partner-funded rewards programs, announced that it has signed an extension with Anna’s Linens as a client in its bank rewards program, which connects national and local retailers to a network of over 400 banks. Anna’s Linens will also continue its use of the Affinity Dashboard, a proprietary analytic tool that offers retailers access to in-depth consumer spend data.

It seemed like everything was going Target’s way after the company reported a 5.5% same-store sales increase during November, but then the revelation came last week of a 0.9% December comp increase and the wind came out of the company’s sales.