Marketing Tactics

Vera Bradley is adding some deep e-commerce experience from Best Buy to its board of directors.

Kelley has e-commerce, marketing, and strategic planning experience and has served as president, e-commerce for Best Buy since 2014. Prior to joining Best Buy, Kelley served as senior VP, e-commerce for Chico's FAS and held the posts of VP of retail real estate and marketing and VP of e-commerce for L.L. Bean.

Sam Edelman has opened a 2,500-sq.-ft. store at The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Designed by Dagnell Folger of Architecture + Information, the store stays true to the Sam Edelman aesthetic with a mix of materials that includes reclaimed wood and raw concrete with rose-colored brass and black leather.

Hints of the brand’s signature shade of green provide a pop of color. Vintage furniture pieces — curated by Sam Edelman himself — are mixed throughout for a personal touch.

New technologies, new products, new consumer preferences — change always threatens to disrupt the status quo, and the retail landscape is no different. The trick is to determine which trends are passing fads and which have real staying power.

To help, we asked six experts from the Daymon Worldwide family of companies (Interactions is a subsidiary of Daymon Worldwide) to share their predictions for trends that will have the biggest impact on the U.S. retail environment in 2016.

Improved Transparency and Distribution

Shoppers at Walmart stores will soon be able to pay with their smartphones as the retailer has developed a unique solution to become the newest entrant in the crowded world of mobile wallets.

Former Target Chief Marketing Officer Michael Francis will reportedly serve as a marketing consultant at Walmart when the retailer’s current CMO steps down.

When it comes to promoting high-end retail and product brands on social media, different platforms suit different companies.

According to new research from Engagement Labs, on Facebook, high-end shoe brand Christian Louboutin ranked first with the highest overall proprietary “eValue” social media measurement score, as well as the highest engagement and responsiveness scores among luxury brands studied.

JLL has entered into an agreement to acquire Big Red Rooster, a brand experience and retail design services company based in Columbus, Ohio.

The acquisition, expected to close in January 2016, will expand JLL’s project management and design services with dedicated brand experience and design experts who can serve a broad mix of retail, food service, grocery and healthcare companies across the United States.

Big Red Rooster counts Under Armour, FedEx, T-Mobile, American Express and Nationwide Children’s Hospital among its clients.

PGA Tour Superstore in 2016 will open its fourth store in the state of Arizona, in Tucson. Additional 2016 openings are to be announced.

The retailer will open a 25,000-sq.-ft. store at the Tucson Fiesta Shopping Center. The store will have multiple state-of-the-art swing simulators, practice hitting bays, a large putting green and an in-house club making and repair facility to provide a unique, interactive experience to golf enthusiasts of all levels.

Women’s lifestyle brand and retailer Vera Bradley is the latest company to feel the negative sales effects of weaning shoppers off promotions, but the strategic shift has done wonders for the company’s bottom line.

What kinds of searches, ads and content are consumers interacting with before and after a tech purchase?

Purch, a digital content and commerce company, and comScore examined more than 3,000 qualifying purchases during a 90-day period to track key influences and behaviors of U.S consumers before, during and after a technology purchase. Purchases tracked include popular products such as mobile devices, tablets and wearables from top online retailers and brands.