Marketing Tactics

After reporting disappointing financial results for the first quarter, the Fresh Market can use all the help it can get in communicating its value proposition to shoppers.

So it may not come as a surprise that the grocery chain has selected a new advertising agency to drive growth going forward. The Fresh Market announced that its new agency, Zimmerman, will conduct strategic planning, creative services, brand activation, media planning & buying (traditional and digital), internal campaign development and social media activation for the company.

O'Fallon, Ill. -- Gander Mountain will open a store in O'Fallon, Illinois, on May 28.

The new 61,000-sq.-ft. Gander Mountain store features an exterior and interior layout that reflect its new store design, featuring innovative interior elements, displays and fixtures.

"We are excited to open our second Gander Mountain location in the St. Louis Metro and provide the countless outdoors enthusiasts with the gear they need," said Gander Mountain president and COO Mike Owens.  

Reports of the death of brick-and-mortar stores have been greatly exaggerated. How else to explain the throngs of shoppers still crowding physical stores in the major shopping districts of the U.S., especially over the weekend at H&M's grand opening in New York?

San Jose, Calif. – EBay Inc. is planning to roll out a service called Promoted Listings that will let sellers pay a percentage of sales resulting from listings that receive special promotion on the site. Sellers can agree to pay a higher percentage of sales to receive better placement of ads, although popularity of promoted items and seller reputation will also be considered in placement.

Los Angeles -- Specialty teen retailer Hot Topic is acquiring Geeknet, parent company of online retailers ThinkGeek and ThinkGeek Solutions, for approximately $122 million, which is more than double the company’s market value.  

ThinkGeek sells a wide range of merchandise, including clothing, toys, and gadgets mostly based on popular movies, television shows and brands that have strong "geek" appeal, such as "Star Trek," ''The Big Bang Theory," and ''Star Wars."

Weddings are becoming increasingly pet-friendly, and a new collection from Martha Stewart and PetSmart aims to leverage that trend.

The pet products retailer has announced it will be teaming up with Martha Stewart Pets on a wedding collection for dogs.

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly preparing an online marketplace for handmade goods that will appropriately enough be known as “Handmade.” According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has been sending targeted emails to Etsy sellers inviting them to sell their wares on Handmade.

The invites do not specify when Handmade will launch or what type of fees sellers will be charged. Etsy sellers are being asked what category of goods they make, such as apparel and baby, and can also select subcategories such as jewelry and home.

Macy’s is out to prove that bigger is better again this July 4 by sponsoring a fireworks display so massive that barges positioned at two locations on the East River in Manhattan are required to launch 40,000 shells.

The 39th annual pyrotechnic extravaganza is scheduled to last 25 minutes and be seen live by an estimated three million people from viewable locations along the shorelines of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.