Winter Holidays

San Francisco -- Gap's new global marketing campaign, "Make Love,” includes print, outdoor, direct mail, social and cinema, as well as new digital content daily.

Instacart, a service that delivers groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, has expanded its footprint to include independent supermarket Berkeley Bowl as well as Costco to its grocery store lineup just in time for the holiday season.

The company’s Berkeley and Oakland customers can now mix items from Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco and Berkeley Bowl into one order and have them delivered the same day.

New York -- Sports Authority has kicked off its 2013 holiday ad campaign, “There’s Nothing Like the Gift of Sport.” The campaign’s message may resonate with those who are already athletically inclined, but may face challenges with XBox One or PlayStation4 aficionados.

By Jason Hamilton, Snagajob

Soon it will be the peak time of year for retail sales: the make-or-break, pressure cooker fourth quarter is already upon us. But before the cash register is humming and online orders are coming in just as fast as they can be fulfilled, retailers need to hire their seasonal employees.

New research from the National Retail Federation sheds light on how 140 million Americans plan to shop during the Thanksgiving weekend.

According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation, Black Friday will be the biggest day of the weekend: 69.1% plan to shop on Black Friday, or approximately 97 million shoppers.

By Adam Simpson, CEO, Easy Office Phone

Black Friday and Cyber Monday represent two of the year’s biggest sales days, generating billions in revenue. Chain stores, shopping centers and even partners need to be prepared for the onslaught of consumer demand.

Sam’s Club was Walmart’s best performing division during the third quarter and holiday plans outlined by president and CEO Rosalind Brewer suggest that could be the case in the fourth quarter as well.

Same store sales at Sam’s increased 1.1% and total sales increased 2.1% to $12.4 billion a while with traffic was up among both business and individual members. Operating profit increased 9.2% to $474 million.

Seattle – Nordstrom reported declining net earnings during the third quarter of fiscal 2013 despite an increase in net sales. Net earnings totaled $137 million, down 7.5% from $146 million in the same quarter a year earlier.