Marketing Tactics

The North Face is celebrating Earth Day by expanding its Clothes the Loop omnichannel initiative, with the goal of recycling more than 100,000 pounds of apparel and footwear this year.

The retailer plans to expand its Clothes The Loop recycling program to all of its retail and outlet stores in the U.S. in tandem with an in-store and social media campaign to encourage consumers to recycle unwanted apparel and footwear from any brand in any condition.

Minneapolis - Caribou Coffee is making the leap to mobile payment with its first mobile app. Caribou's custom app provides customers with mobile payment and access to the Caribou Perks loyalty program.

The mobile pay feature allows Caribou Perks members to add funds and manage their account. Caribou Coffee partnered with brand and technology company Modern Climate to create a custom mobile app that delivers a personalized experience. The retailer plans to release updates to the app later in the year.

Ikea is taking its multi-year partnership with American Forests to a whole new level with the introduction of an educational video for children.

The Swedish retailer and the forestry group have teamed up to produce a video to be shown in designated kids’ areas at Ikea stores. The video will explain how forests and trees benefit all life on the planet, including wildlife, and how trees help to slow or mediate climate change.

Retailers who rely on a steady stream of new products from suppliers to drive sales will find a new source of digital inspiration in a product development deal between Mattel and the online collaboration community known as Quirky.

Oak Brook, Ill. - Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. has changed its name to InvenTrust Properties Corp., effective immediately. The company’s new website address is Inventrustproperties.com.

Texans love their football so what better way to drive traffic at the opening of a new Sam’s Club in Austin than enlisting some of the game’s biggest legends and rising stars.

Sam’s opened a new club in Austin on April 16 and to turn up the heat in a market accustomed to warehouse club shopping the retailer drafted notable players to appeal to fans of every generation.

St. Louis -- One of St. Louis’ oldest public companies and one of the nation’s most diverse footwear companies, Brown Shoe Company, is putting a new foot forward and changing its name to “Caleres,” a Latin word that means “passionate, to glow.” The Brown name, however, will live on in a new men’s footwear business called Brown Shoe Bootmakers that the company plans to launch in 2016.

Publix is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year with an annual day of service in which more than 4,000 of its employees will participate in service projects.

Publix employees across the company’s six operating states will be volunteering with more than 125 nonprofits whose focus is on youth, education or the plight of the hungry and homeless.