Marketing Tactics

New York -- High-profile retailers can make a high-impact difference when they use their clout to do good.  

Case in point: Ann Inc., parent to Ann Taylor and Loft, donated more than $4.3 million to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to fund groundbreaking cancer research. The brands parlayed successes from the 2014 spring and fall campaigns and have brought the company's total corporate donation to $22.3 million in the past 10 years.

New York -- Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor President Liz Rodbell is among a group of high powered female executive due to be honored as Outstanding Mothers at a New York City event on May 7 emceed by HSN CEO and 2010 Outstanding Mother honoree Mindy Grossman.

Other honorees include Meredith Vieira, host and executive producer, “The Meredith Vieira Show”; Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan and editorial director, Hearst Magazines; and Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, designer, creative director at Dee Ocleppo.

Executives at Abercrombie & Fitch Co. think that taking the sex out of its ads will solve the retailer's traffic problems, according to new reports. But the retailer may have more work to do than just firing the beefcake models.

New York -- According to NRF’s 2015 Mother’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, Americans will spend an average of $172.63 on mom this year, up nearly $10 from $162.94 last year and the highest amount in the survey’s 12-year history. Total spending is expected to reach $21.2 billion.

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said the launch of the company's new watch has been "overwhelmingly positive" just as another seemingly unstoppable surge of iPhone and App Store sales helped Apple Inc. post a 33% increase in profit for the second quarter, setting a record for its best March quarter ever.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- Valpak’s new coupon app for Apple Watch will deliver watch wearers savings in a high-tech way for the traditional coupon-mailer.

The coupon app will be available for download for Apple Watch and will mark an early Apple Watch entry for coupon companies.

River Island is putting a new spin on fashion retailing at its store in Birmingham’s Bullring Shopping Centre. The U.K. retailer’s space is based upon the concept of ‘The Event,’ and it’s meant to convey the essence of being at a fashion show or art exhibit, with all the flexibility and “wow” factors inherent in such happenings.

The old expression, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” was taken to heart at Whole Foods where a recent fundraising campaign will provide loans to help people improve their lot in life.

Whole Food held concerts and craft fairs and thousands of small events that raised $4.6 million with the goal of alleviating global poverty. To achieve such a lofty mission, the retailer isn’t donating money to food banks to provide hand outs, but rather using the dollars to fund a microlending campaign.