Winter Holidays

Pedigree and the Broadway musical "Annie" worked together to promote awareness of dog adoption, and the partnership resulted in a $1 million donation to Pedigree Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping dogs find loving homes. A check was presented to the foundation after the matinee performance on Nov. 20.

Since its debut in 1977, "Annie" has featured a real-life shelter dog as Annie's companion Sandy, making the partnership between Pedigree brand and the Tony Award-winning musical even more special.

Los Angeles – A majority of the 348,235 tweets about Black Friday posted between Friday, Nov. 22 and Sunday, Nov. 24 were either positive or neutral in sentiment. According to analysis from social media research firm Fizziology, tweets about Black Sunday the weekend of Nov. 22-24 were 47% positive, 11% negative, 3% mixed and 39% neutral (from retailers/promotions).

Famous footwear may have generated record third quarter sales, but parent company Brown Shoe was unwilling to get too ambitious with holiday expectations given uncertainty it sees around promotional activity and consumer sentiment.

By Kathy Gersch, executive VP, Kotter International

One thing is certain in the world of retail: the pace of change is accelerating, and competition is fierce. Longstanding retail behemoths are dying, new specialty stores are springing up overnight, and everyone is desperately searching for new ways to stay ahead of the competition while keeping themselves from sinking. People talk about this, but in my opinion, they are missing the true problem.

By Shelley E. Kohan, [email protected]

Thanksgiving is drawing near, and with the official start of the holiday now beginning on Thursday (as some retailers will open on Thanksgiving Day), it’s time to talk about the “Giant Turkey” in the room for physical retail stores.

Duracell plans to donate up to 1 million batteries to Toys for Tots as part of its Power a Smile program, marking the brand's largest donation to the organization to date.

Austin, Texas -- Nearly nine-in-10 (86%) working consumers plan to spend at least some time shopping or browsing online for gifts during work hours this Cyber Monday. A new RetailMeNot retail trends report also shows that 25% of working Americans plan to actually spend four hours or more shopping online for gifts during work hours that day.

New York – More than half of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday this year, although the number has decreased since last year. According to the Deloitte Pre-Thanksgiving Survey, 53% of 1,000 consumers polled will shop on Black Friday, compared to 63% in 2012.

Younger consumers are more likely to shop Black Friday, with 68% of weekend shoppers age 18-29 planning to shop that day and 44% of Black Friday shoppers in this age group planning to hit the stores between midnight and 5 a.m., compared to 30% of those 30 and older.