Winter Holidays

In anticipation of the theatrical release of “The LEGO Movie” Friday, Feb. 7, Toys “R” Us is unveiling a dedicated feature shop in stores nationwide Thursday, Jan. 30, as well as online at Toysrus.com/LEGO.

Customers will be able to find the latest movie-inspired products as well as recreate their favorite scenes from the first-ever full-length LEGO adventure film. Toys “R” Us will also host a special event, and offer gifts with purchase and a chance to win prizes, while supplies last.

By Netta Kelvis, head of marketing, Custora

[Editor’s Note: Custora has released its Holiday 2013 E-Commerce Recap, which is based on the company’s real-time dashboard aggregating data from over 100 U.S. retailers. Here's a blog post by Custora’s head on marketing summarizing the recap's highlights.]  

Adverse weather conditions as well as power outages in some of Dollarama’s core markets throughout December 2013 resulted in a significant reduction in store traffic and the temporary closure of approximately 80 stores, for periods ranging from a few hours to two consecutive days. The majority of the impacted days occurred during the two weekends leading up to Dec. 25.

Montreal - Adverse weather conditions as well as power outages in some of Dollarama’s core markets throughout the month of December 2013 resulted in a significant reduction in store traffic and the temporary closure of approximately 80 stores, for periods ranging from a few hours to two consecutive days. The majority of the impacted days occurred during the two weekends leading up to Dec. 25.

Best Buy’s defense of its market share proved costly during the holidays as greater-than-expected price cuts caused same-store sales to decline 0.9%, resulting in significant margin erosion and a vow to accelerate cost-cutting efforts in 2014.

Total sales for the nine-week period ended Jan. 4 declined slightly to $11.5 billion, with the domestic segment accounting for $9.75 billion of those sales. While domestic same store sales fell 0.9%, the company can take some comfort in the fact that its online comps increased 23.5%.

San Francisco -- With an average global click-through rate of 2.33% and an average global conversion rate of 4.07%, retailers achieved a six-to-one return on ad spend (ROAS) for paid search during the 2013 holiday season. According to a new report from digital marketing technology provider Kenshoo, during the 2013 holiday season, mobile devices accounted for one of every three paid search clicks, up nearly 28% year-over-year (YoY).

St. Louis – Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. reported declining year-over-year revenues for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 in a partial preliminary earnings release.

On a preliminary basis, Build-A-Bear reported total fourth quarter revenues of $107 million, down 9% from $118.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Preliminary fiscal year revenues were down slightly to $378 million from $380.2 million.

Marketers sent a record volume of email during the holidays and although overall open rates declined, the record level of email marketing activity produced transactions and sales growth, according to Experian Marketing Services.