Marketing Tactics

Online retailer Overstock.com is launching a partnership with nonprofit Give Back Box to make donating used clothes easier for its customers.
 
Soon, customers who order products from Overstock.com will be able to use an enclosed Give Back Box shipping label to send their used clothes to nonprofits nationwide.
 

As today’s healthcare market continues to evolve, CVS Caremark’s portfolio of enterprise assets is enabling the company to provide innovative solutions and products that are delivering results, as evidenced by its “strong” second-quarter results released Tuesday morning.

Hillshire Farm is introducing its Hillshire Farm Naturals line of lunchmeat ahead of the start of the school year.
 
The meats in the lineup are preservative-free and don’t contain any nitrates, nitrites, or any artificial coloring or flavors. The new variety will come in black re-sealable tubs, and include two varieties of turkey breast — slow roasted and smoked — as well as black forest and honey roasted ham.
 

While some retailers and brands are now conducting actual e-commerce from their Facebook pages, the “buy” button holds the potential to substantially increase Facebook’s potential as a platform for executing omnichannel transactions. Smart retailers will offer, and even encourage, buy online-pick-up-in-store functionality through the buy button. Many consumers prefer the immediacy of picking up an item in a nearby store to waiting for a delivery, and retailers benefit from the resulting increase in store traffic and secondary purchases.

Target Corp. is running a Q&A with its new chairman and CEO, Brian Cornell, on its in-house, behind-the-scenes blog, A Bullseye View. The interview was conducted by the Bullseye View team.

You are the first CEO who has been hired from outside of Target. What are the benefits of coming in from the outside? What will be some of the challenges?

Sandra Gudat, President & CEO, Customer Communications Group

Retailers often have trouble balancing their overall promotions plan with offers and discounts for their loyalty program. In fact, it may be enough of an issue that they keep loyalty as an independent P&L entity, or even steer clear of loyalty altogether to avoid the problem. After all, every retail business is about profit, and adding another layer of promotional discounts into the mix could be seen as a threat to the bottom line.

Parsippany, N.J. - Facebook and RB, a provider of health and hygiene products, have entered into a multi-year, nine-figure global partnership. The two companies have committed to integrating members of their global sales, marketing and creative teams to connect RB brands like Lysol, Mucinex, MegaRed and Air Wick with consumers on Facebook.

San Francisco – Out-of-stocks and placement continue to be key issues for back-to-school retail efforts. According to a field study of 465 retailers across the U.S. from mobile contractor Gigwalk, 47% of the retailers visited had an issue with their back-to-school displays.

Forty-five percent were due to the product being out of stock, followed by missing price and having the product in the wrong display. Other findings include:

• 49% plan to spend more this back-to-school season.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us is launching an omnichannel promotion called “C’mon Let’s Play” in partnership with advertising agency The Escape Pod and 'Action Movie Kid' YouTube channel creator Daniel Hashimoto. The campaign includes TV ads and in-cinema advertising.