Marketing Tactics

Seattle – Nordstrom came out on top in a study that ranked the social media performance of department stores by digital marketing analytics company Rival IQ. The Rival Results Index (RRI) for High-end Department Stores scored 12 department stores based on their social media performance during first quarter 2015. Macy’s followed Nordstrom in the overall rankings, with Harrods (London), Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman rounding out the top five.

Some of the biggest names in retail soon will be honored in the nation’s capital when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy host an annual event to recognize Energy Star Partners of the Year.

Among this year’s award recipients are Home Depot, Sears, Best Buy, Kroger, Kohl’s, Food Lion, Staples and JCPenney. The eight retailers are among 128 total companies being honored as Energy Star Partners of the Year from the roughly 16,000 companies who partner with EPA on the broad-based energy efficiency program.

Leading department store retailer Nordstrom has developed a unique approach to community giving by returning 1% of gift card sales to local nonprofit groups.

Nordstrom will use funds from gift card sales to support two giving programs: Nordstrom-directed corporate contributions and a newly-launched Employee Charitable Match program. For more than 40 years, Nordstrom selects hundreds of organizations to receive cash grants.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced it is donating one percent of every gift card sale to local nonprofits in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

"When a customer buys a gift card this Mother's Day and beyond, we hope they'll feel good knowing that the gift they're giving is a part of Nordstrom helping some great non-profit organizations do amazing things for their communities,” said Jamie Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom.

Aspiring musicians with big dreams but no way to pay for them now have options thanks to a new credit initiative launched at the nation’s leading musical instrument retailer.

Guitar Center, operator of 260 stores nationwide, and Synchrony Bank, formerly GE Capital Retail Finance, reached a multi-year agreement that allows Guitar Center to provide a private label credit card program. The program is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2015 and also includes a stipulation that Synchrony Bank acquire the assets of an existing card program.

Dick’s Sporting Goods plans to spend $850 million over the next three years to add as many as 150 stores while growing total sales to as much as $9 billion with e-commerce contributing more than $1 billion.

Center City, Pa. -- X Team International, an international alliance of retail real estate advisors, announced that partner MSC Retail has completed a lease transaction with New Balance Experience Store at 1615 Walnut Street in Center City.

The new 2,200-sq.-ft. ground-floor retail space is located on Philadelphia’s leading high street, and will sit alongside The Apple Store, Urban Outfitters and Free People. It opened on April 1.

New York -- Toms and Whole Foods Market grabbed the top spots in a survey of the most socially responsible companies by marketing consultancy Good Must Grow. Rounding out the top five: Microsoft, Starbucks and the Red Cross.

The survey asked consumers to name one company or organization that is socially responsible. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents said they were familiar with the term “socially responsible,” and of those, 77% said it was an important factor in their shopping behaviors.