Marketing Tactics

The launch of “buy buttons” in the past year on major social networks like Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter received a lot of attention, but so far they are not catching on with customers.
 
According to Digiday, research firms including Forrester and GlobalWebIndex are finding low consumer usage rates for social buy buttons. Reasons include limited functionality and visibility of the buttons.

At a time when the world of commercial real estate continues to evolve in new and different directions, many traditional malls find themselves at crossroads. To survive, mall owners and operators must make significant and sometimes dramatic changes in order to remain commercially relevant and financially viable.
 

A popular goose from up north is about to nest in two high-profile locations.  

Canada Goose, best known for its signature — and pricey — goose-down jacket with Arctic Circle logo and fur-trimmed hood, will open its first two freestanding stores this fall. The flagship locations are set to open at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, and in downtown Manhattan, in SoHo.

From hyperlocal social media intelligence to mobile survey creation, this month’s crop of startups is filling niche spaces that can have a big impact on a retailer’s business. Learn about an augmented reality platform that’s elevating the online experience, a social referral startup that makes it easy to spread rewarding word-of-mouth recommendations and an analytics company that helps retailers and CPG companies get the most out of their online and transaction-level customer data.

SurveyMe

Canadian specialty frozen food retailer M&M Meat Shops has changed its name to M&M Food Market as part of a total brand reinvention that includes a new store experience.

Complete with new shopping carts, color-coded in-store signage, merchandising displays and a kitchen, the new store concept works to create a more effective, convenient and hands-on shopping experience.

Designed by Shikatani Lacroix, the format is now being rolled out across Canada.

A 60,000-sq.-ft. Crayola Experience has opened at Mall of America, giving the massive shopping center yet another experiential component to generate traffic.
 
The Crayola Experience is a family attraction that features 25 hands-on activities inspired by Crayola products and technologies and there is also The Crayola Store offering the world's largest selection of Crayola products and unique souvenirs.
 

An innovative advocacy campaign to encourage shopping at physical stores JLL launched for Mother’s Day will debut at other key seasonal periods during the next three months.
 

Retail has been the foundation of shopping centers throughout their existence, but new entertainment concepts are making inroads in traditional retail venues.