Marketing Tactics

Kohl’s is betting big on the notion that a new focus on health and wellness will increase sales.

The retailer is greatly expanding its assortment of active lifestyle and wellness offerings through brand launches, partnerships and unique social integrations that further the company’s commitment to active and well lifestyles promoted under the Make Your Move initiative launched earlier this year.

By Dan Goldman, Kurt Salmon

Just like bell-bottoms and leg warmers, mom-and-pop retailers are back. Not long ago, it seemed like they would be permanently relegated to some dusty attic space, a relic fighting for relevancy.

Big-box stores put them there. Between 1992 and 2014, the share of U.S. retail stores owned by companies with fewer than 500 employees fell 13%.i That’s because big boxes promised lower prices and a wider assortment, points brought home by large mass market advertising campaigns.

By Anne Marie Stephen

Brands, retailers and technologists convened at Retail Loco at South by Southwest Interactive, Sunday, March 15, 2015 hosted by Location Based Marketing Association. The event focused on how companies are leveraging location solutions and data for better business. The LBMA is a global not-for-profit association with over 1,000 member companies including media, retail, brands, agencies and technology companies.

Retailers have long known the value of collecting and using customer information for internal analytics and marketing. Indeed, for decades, retailers such as grocery and drug stores have benefited from the vast amount of data generated by customers using their loyalty discount cards to save on their food, toiletry and related purchases. With advancements in technology, retailers now have access to more information than ever about their customers, not only from their own collection practices, but from third parties as well.

The North Face’s latest unique marketing campaign is inviting customers to the mountains for a workout without ever leaving the store.

The outdoors and fitness apparel company's latest promotion will bring Mountain Athletics workouts to five cities across the country, and customers are invited to sign up and engage in-store and online via a variety of digital marketing offerings.

Beginning March 31, the North Face will host twice-weekly free strength and conditioning workouts in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston.

Sears has teamed up with organizers of a next-generation athletic event that involves slogging through mud to promote its best-selling Kenmore brand in stores, online and via social media.

The Kenmore brand announced that for the second consecutive year, it will be the official household appliance sponsor of the Dity Girl Mud Run, the original women-only national 5K obstacle and race event.

New York -- There is no let up of bad news for American Apparel. The company’s founder and ousted CEO, Dov Charney, plans to file a lawsuit claiming $40 million in damages related to breaches of his employment contract.

The disclosure came on the heels of news that the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Charney’s departure.

Home Depot had it first, but now MakerBot is coming to an even wider mass-market arena as the 3D printer rolls out at more than 300 Sam's Club locations in the United States.