Marketing Tactics

Year-round e-commerce sales and discounting have dulled the impact of traditional Black Friday sales for many consumers.   These shoppers are so desensitized to “Black Friday hype” that nearly three in four respondents (73%) said they prefer to do their holiday shopping outside of the holiday season, during e-commerce sales, such as Amazon Prime Day. These preferences have influenced 47% of shoppers to skip Black Friday or Cyber Monday altogether this year, according to the second annual “JDA Consumer Survey.”

One of the retail industry’s most environmentally-activist brands is shutting down operations for Election Day.   Patagonia will close its 30 U.S stores and headquarters in Ventura, Calif., on Election Day, Nov. 8, in an effort to encourage customers, employees and citizens to head to the polls. The company, which is giving its employees a paid holiday for the day, will also shutter its distribution and customer service center in Reno, Nevada.  

The more help a consumer receives—digital and human—the more he or she is willing to spend while in the store.     Consumers spend twice as much in-store when they receive assistance from a store associate, according to a new study by InMoment, and 2.2 times more when they surf the brand’s web site while in the store. What’s more, a consumer’s average single-trip spend increases nearly four times when engaged by both in-store staff and the brand’s web site.  

Modell’s Sporting Goods is opening a flagship on the site of a former rival.   Modell’s will open a two-level, 20,000-sq.-ft. store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a site formerly occupied by Sports Authority. The opening is slated for mid-November.    The store will become Modell’s flagship store in Manhattan, said William Rudin, CEO of property manager Rudin Management Company, in a release.  

REI has opened it largest location on the East Coast, a 51,000-sq.ft. flagship in Washington, D.C.   The store is designed to offer members of the outdoor community a place to meet and plan adventures — and shop for outdoor gear. It includes such features as a 1,052-sq.-ft. cafe, outdoor courtyard with a fire pit and tables, and a community space that offers a robust schedule of free and low-cost classes in-store classes for cycling, paddling, fitness, hiking and camping, climbing, snow sports, photography and wilderness medicine.

Canadian retailer Arc'teryx has opened a stylish pop-up dedicated to its Veilance outerwear menswear collection.     Arc'teryx partnered with New York-based design firm Snarkitecture on the temporary store, located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, which will be open until January 8, 2017.   

An extended holiday season could translate into an 11% increase in online sales with mobile devices leading the charge.   Adobe’s “2016 Digital Insights Shopping Predictions” report predicts that 53 consecutive days (57 calendar days in total) will exceed $1 billion in online sales, compared to 31 consecutive days last year — a 71% year-over-year (YoY) increase.