Marketing Tactics

Social media has evolved into a powerful marketing tool for retailers. But so far, social commerce is not yet a major transactional channel.

Twitter is the latest social platform to attempt to take advantage of social media’s immediacy to offer direct purchase functionality aimed at impulse shoppers.

Consumers may make merry during the upcoming holiday season, but mobile devices may be less a part of the action than retailers like.

According to a new survey from marketing automation platform provider Bronto Software, only 19% of holiday shoppers plan to purchase from a tablet, and 22% from a smartphone.

Consumers will use mobile devices to search for the best deal: 65% will look for promotions and coupons, 63% will check prices on that store's website and 61% will search for lower prices at another store or site.

After a new donation pledge from Publix Super Markets, the international nonprofit Habitat for Humanity will be able to build 40 new houses in 2016 in the Southeast, where Publix serves all of its customers.

The $4 million donation, announced Monday, will go to more than 80 different Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The competition for retailers selling online just got a lot more intense with a new price-match policy from Target just ahead of the prime holiday shopping season.

Beginning Oct. 1, Target will price-match the websites of 29 major retailers in stores and for purchases from their website.

As the holidays approach, retailers are hoping the convenience and immediacy of e-commerce will prompt high volumes of online gift purchases.

But according to a new survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers from e-gift software provider Loop Commerce, there are some common problems that make consumers hesitate to buy gifts online.

Another iconic U.S. brand has opened its own freestanding store. Ice hockey equipment giant Bauer Hockey, founded in 1927, made its brick-and-mortar debut, in Burlington, Massachusetts. The 20,000-sq.-ft. store, called

The first in a series of interviews with retail executives who attend SPECS, Chain Store Age’s annual store planning conference.

Social media has evolved into a powerful marketing tool for retailers. But so far, social commerce is not yet a major transactional channel.

Twitter is the latest social platform to attempt to take advantage of social media’s immediacy to offer direct purchase functionality aimed at impulse shoppers.

For the eighth year in a row, Dillard’s is making a big commitment to the communities its serves by offering a custom edition of the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Sports Authority is putting its philanthropic focus on helping disabled children and adults enjoy more therapeutic recreation, competition and adaptive sports.

The retailer announced Wednesday that it will collect point-of-sale donations at Sports Authority locations nationwide to support the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) throughout the month of October.