Marketing Tactics

Grapevine, Texas – Gamers whose friends and family mistakenly gave them holiday gift cards for retailers that do not sell video games have a new option. GameStop is now exchanging unwanted gift cards from other retailers for a GameStop gift card online and in select stores.

Upon verifying the information and completing the transaction, a GameStop e-gift card is emailed if completed online or a gift card is given if the transaction is completed in-store. Customers can either use the gift cards at any U.S. GameStop store location or online.

Merrimack, N.H. - Brookstone is unveiling its "I Launched at Brookstone!" marketing campaign to promote new homegrown products, introduce the new tech products from startup companies, and meet startup companies looking for a way to bring their products to market. Brookstone is able to develop and market startup products with in-house design, packaging, marketing, retail, e-commerce and wholesale teams

While Obamacare remains a contentious issue, Sam’s Club has quietly administered free health tests to nearly one million people and plans to continue its ambitious screening program in 2015.

The first of the monthly screening events takes place Jan. 10 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sam’s Club 598 locations that contain a pharmacy. Ten screening events are planned for the remainder of the year and held on the second Saturday of each month.

A 3.7% same store sales increase during the holidays has JCPenney feeling good about the continued growth of its business.

The retailer said same store sales during the nine week period from November through December increase 3.7%. That figure was on top of a 3.1% gain during the same period the prior year and was toward the high end of the company’s guidance range which envisioned comp growth of two percent to four percent.

New York -- Closing out the 2014 holiday shopping season, Internet retail traffic soared to new heights during the first weekend in January, according to Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ Retail Index.

The Index measures average daily traffic and peak volumes, with both variables used an index with a baseline value of 100. The Index was 130 on Friday (Jan. 2), 134 on Saturday (Jan. 3) and 137 points on Sunday (Jan 4).

San Francisco, Calif. - Apple accounted for 51% of the new device activations worldwide during the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (Dec. 19 - 25). According to data from mobile analytics provider Flurry, Christmas Day typically sees the highest number of new device activations and app installs each year, with 2014 following the trend.

Last week, I took a look back at three technologies that disrupted retail in 2014. Now that we are kicking off the first work week of the New Year, it’s time to look ahead at three technologies likely to disrupt retail in 2015.

Wearables

By Greg Van den Heuvel, Pitney Bowes Software

Black Friday traditionally marks the first day of the holiday shopping season. During the most recent holiday season, millions of Americans have participated in the shopping frenzy, which according to CMO.com, accounts for nearly 40% of all annual sales. Black Friday weekend alone accounted for 133 million American shoppers, diving deep into discounts, hoping to land the best deal and get a head start on their holiday shopping.

As part of its ongoing strategy to drive sustainability innovation, Staples will be giving away $25,000 in new tech products to 10 “eco-focused” schools in Canada in 2015.

Publicly funded schools that are focused on the environment are invited to enter the contest atStaples.ca/PowerEco and share their eco initiatives for a chance to win. The Staples Superpower your School Contest runs through Jan. 31.

Embattled teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. has defaulted on $27 million in senior convertible notes and related costs.

In a regulatory filing, Wet Seal said the total amount due is equal to $28.8 million, plus costs of collection, attorneys’ fees and disbursements.