Marketing Tactics

Maurices plans 16 new stores in time for holidays
Duluth, Minn. –- Maurices is ramping up its store openings in time for the holiday season with plans to open 16 new stores. These expansions will give the girls’ apparel retailer a total of 938 locations, advancing it toward its goal of having more than 1,300 stores in the United States and Canada.
McDonald’s launches omnichannel informational effort
Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald’s USA will answer questions from customers through a multichannel effort called “Our Food. Your Questions.” The company invites people to submit their food questions via social media. McDonald’s will respond with behind-the-scenes webisodes and other social content that provides facts on ingredients, how food is made and how it’s prepared in restaurants.

NRF launches Retail Jobs Week

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation (NRF) is offering Retail Jobs Week the week of Oct. 13-17, a multi-faceted effort to push back against long-held misperceptions about working in the retail industry. Through this initiative, NRF aims to continue educating Washington lawmakers about the value retail jobs deliver for workers and the economy.
Plug and Play launches Retail and Brand Meetup Oct. 22

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Plug and Play Tech Center is launching its first Retail and Brand Meetup on Wednesday, Oct. 22, starting at 5:30 pm PDT. The free event will feature a panel of marketing experts discussing the future of marketing and the importance of brands and retailers staying in touch with the customer at all touchpoint during a consumers path to purchase.
Smaller, More Agile Retailers are Winning Big and Here’s Why

By Gary Ambrosino, President and CEO of TimeTrade Hidden in the onslaught of negative headlines about former retail heavyweights, like JC Penney and Sears, is a slew of less-publicized, good news from smaller—many formerly online-only—retailers that are not only weathering the storm but are thriving.
Maurices adds stores for holiday cheer

The Maurices division of Ascena Retail Group is rolling toward a footprint of more than 1,000 locations with a new round of stores opening in advance of the holidays.

Maurices plans to open sixteen locations before November 10 giving the Ascena subsidiary a total of 938 locations. The company contends the U.S. and Canada can support more than 1,300 locations.
Costco and Alibaba do China deal

Costco has extended its product offering to shoppers in mainland China by establishing a storefront on the Tmall e-commerce platform operated by Alibaba Group.
West Elm to open in El Paso

Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Home furnishings retailer West Elm will open a store in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, Oct. 16th. Located in The Promenade of The Fountains at Farah, the more than 22,000 square foot store will feature a curated selection of products made in Texas, part of West Elm’s Local initiative.
Top 10 Predictions for IT for 2015 and beyond

New York -- Smart machines, mobile and digital business transformation all weigh heavily in tech research giant Gartner’s top 10 predictions for IT organizations and users in 2015 and beyond. Here is an overview of Gartner's top 10 trends:
Saving water equals sales at Home Depot

Water conservation is big business for the nation’s largest home improvement retailer who earned accolades from the Environmental Protection Agency for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense devices.

The EPA named Home Depot a 2014 WaterSense Partner of the year for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense labeled products which helped customers save an estimated 42.5 billion gallons of water and more than $358 million in water related utility costs. The retailer said the water saved is enough to supply 291,000 U.S. homes for a full year.
Gerber issues open call for cute babies

Nestle’s Gerber brand is asking parent to upload photos of their infants as part of its 5th annual “Be Our Baby” contest and a chance to appear in a television commercial.
Online urgency comes to Amazon Prime

Amazon has sweetened the value proposition for its Prime members this holiday season by offering a 30 minute head start on select Lightning Deals on Amazon.com and daily sales events at MyHabit.com.

The early access deals feature is the latest enhancement to Amazon’s Prime membership which is best known for providing free two day shipping to members who pay a $99 annual fee. The feature brings elements of the competitive shopping behavior to Amazon by creating a sense of urgency to make purchases before the goods are gone.