Winter Holidays

Retailers will reveal their 2015 holiday strategies in the weeks ahead and as they do so the National Retail Federation is offering a powerful new resource filled with industry best practices to benchmark against for this year and beyond.

The newly released document is called the 2015 Holiday Planning Playbook and was compiled by top retailers over the course of the past year who served on various NRF councils focused on retail industry disciplines.

Englewood, Colo. -- Sports Authority wants customers to line up early on Saturday, Sept. 5 for its annual winter sports blowout sale identified for the past 61 years by the quirky name Sniagrab.

Sports Authority is encouraging customers to line up early on Saturday, Sept. 5 for the retailer’s annual winter sports blowout sale identified for the past 61 years by the quirky name Sniagrab.

The CEO of Michaels says an improved merchandising strategy and a focus on the customer experience helped drive sales growth at the specialty retailer in the second quarter.

Total sales increased 3.8% to $984.3 million in the second quarter ended Aug. 1 at Michaels and same store sales increased 2.9%. Michaels reported a profit of $35.7 million, or 17 cents a share, vs. a loss of $46.8 million, or 26 cents a share, a year ago.

The holiday force has awakened earlier than ever at Walmart with the Aug. 28 launch of a major initiative called Toy Week.

Walmart has released its top toy list of 25 products and announced details of a layaway program that is less restrictive than prior years. The program begins Aug. 28, two weeks earlier than last years, and those participating will find the price point of eligible items has been reduced to $10 with a minimum basket size of $50, there is no account opening fee and only a 10% down payment is required.

Milwaukee - The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. is increasing its support of e-commerce with a new 743,000-sq.-ft. direct-to-consumer fulfillment center.

The facility, which began transitioning fulfillment operations in June, supports the company’s expanding e-commerce business and omnichannel growth plans.

Green Bay, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers announced details for the master plan of the Titletown District, a destination area to be created immediately west of Lambeau Field Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers will invest approximately $65 million in Titletown, with a cumulative initial investment by all parties to be between $120 million-130 million.

Common industry wisdom holds that by the time the holidays actually come around, merchandising and marketing plans have been in place for several months or more.