Marketing Tactics

Furniture giant opens first-ever retail store
Furniture manufacturer Herman Miller continues its transformation from a maker of modern office furniture to a lifestyle brand with the opening of its first retail store. The 6,000-sq.-ft. Herman Miller store is located on the ground and second floors of Herman Miller's flagship building on Park Avenue South in Manhattan. The building houses corporate office space for Maharam, Design Within Reach, and Geiger — all Herman Miller owned companies — along with commercial showrooms for Herman Miller and Geiger.
Restoration Hardware’s new Seattle showplace
Restoration Hardware Holdings continues to expand, opening a 60,000-sq.-ft. store in Seattle at University Village.

Barnes & Noble puts the blame on election

Cost cuts help improve Barnes & Noble’s profitability in the third quarter even as its sales continued to decline. “While we are pleased to have improved our performance due to expense reductions, we did experience sluggish sales, which we believe are directly related to the election cycle,” said Len Riggio, chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble. "With the election behind us, we hope and expect sales will improve over the holidays."
This retailer is donating 100% of its Black Friday sales to help the environment

Talk about commitment. Patagonia announced that its plans to donate 100% of its store and online sales on Black Friday, Nov. 25, to grassroots environmental organizations. "These are small groups, often underfunded and under the radar, who work on the front lines," Patagonia CEO and president Rose Marcario wrote in a post announcing the company’s plans. "The support we can give is more important now than ever."
Lowe’s uses Facebook Live to tease Black Friday deals
Survey: Gen Z is a big influencer

Watch out millennials, there’s a new generational cohort upsetting the retail landscape. Generation Z has become an increasingly important influencer of consumer spending, according to a new study by HRC Retail Advisory, with new shopping behaviors that focus on both malls and online shopping. (The HRC survey describes Gen Z as individuals born between 1999 and 2006).
Canada Goose, New York City

Canadian outerwear brand Canada Goose, best known for its signature goose-down jacket with fur-trimmed hood, has opened its first-ever U.S. store. The 4,100-sq.-ft. space is designed to reflect the company’s roots and Arctic heritage. The works of Canadian artisans are showcased throughout the store, which also features gallery-styled displays of vintage pieces from the brand’s archives and a 3,840-pound marble cash-wrap, carved from a single piece of rock and sourced from a quarry in British Columbia.
Deloitte: Online, physical retailers tied for Black Friday weekend wallet share

As Black Friday quickly approaches, it is anyone’s game on who will garner the most wallet share — clicks or bricks. More than three-quarters (76%) of Americans plan to shop over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and they plan to spend $400 between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, a slight uptick from last year's intentions to spend $369.
Calvin Klein to deploy in-store phone chargers

Shoppers at select Calvin Klein stores may soon be able to charge their phones while also watching some promotional content. The specialty apparel retailer is installing complementary in-store phone charging kiosks in approximately nine stores across the United States and Canada, including New York City and Las Vegas. The kiosks, from Veloxity, will be in place just in time for Black Friday.
Walmart mounts big offense for Cyber Monday

Walmart has fired the first shot in the Cyber Monday wars. The discounter said it will launch its “Cyber Week” sales several days early this year, with the first round to be offered on Friday, Nov. 25, at 12:01 a.m. (EST). In announcing the deals, Walmart noted it has nearly tripled its online assortment to more than 23 million products from 8 million last year, with the growth partially driven by the increase in the chain’s third-party sellers.
Report: Popular online brand to open brick-and-mortar stores

The online retailer credited with disrupting the mattress category may be moving into the physical space. Casper, which delivers its mattresses folded in a box, has plans to open a fleet of physical stores, according to help wanted ads placed on its website, according to the New York Post.
Survey finds mixed signals about holiday spending

Not everyone is feeling confident about retail sales. U.S.-based importers and suppliers who sell goods to retailers are not entirely confident consumers are going to open their wallets, according to a new survey conducted by Capital Business Credit, a supply chain finance company.