Target, Inc.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in August 2013 versus August 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Back-to-school season was in full swing, yet the drug retailers took opposite approaches to their promotions. Walgreens featured multiple BTS promotions on each of its front pages both this year and last. On the other hand, CVS’s front pages did not feature any traditional school/office supplies, instead focusing on the cosmetics category in three of its four August 2014 circulars.

Twitter is taking a page from Facebook and testing its own Buy button, which will allow users of the social media platform to purchase products directly from Tweets.

According to group product manager Tarun Jain, a small percentage of U.S. users will see some Tweets from its test partners featuring the Buy button. That percentage will grow over time, depending on users’ response.

New York -- Panera Bread would like its customers to leave their guns at home. The bakery-cafe chain joined a handful of other high-profile retailers, including Starbucks, Chipotle, and Target, to make the request.  

Minneapolis - Target Corp. plans to open two new smaller-format TargetExpress stores in San Francisco’s Financial District and Berkeley, California, in March 2015. Target’s first TargetExpress store opened this year in Minneapolis, and the San Francisco-area stores will mark the first time Target is expanding this format outside the Minneapolis area.

Target is expanding its TargetExpress format outside the Minneapolis area for the first time. The retailer plans to open two new stores in San Francisco’s financial district and Berkeley, California, in March 2015.

By Joe Tichar, senior VP of corporate operations, DDR, Beachwood, Ohio

Forward-thinking retailers are increasingly leveraging their brick-and-mortar locations to establish omnichannel models that meet the growing consumer demand for a more convenient, more cost-effective and more personalized shopping experience.
 

Ottawa, Canada - Trying to stay competitive with Amazon.com on price may not be the best path to success for department store and discount retailers. According to pricing analysis of 1,000-plus household goods based on Amazon’s own assortment relative to Kohl’s, Walmart, Target and Macy’s conducted by 360pi and Retail Systems Research from March-June 2014, Kohl’s was consistently 30%-60% above Amazon’s pricing for this sample, but also reported the healthiest financials of the group.

New York – Shoppers spent $50.17 billion online during the 2014 back-to-school shopping season, which represents a 16% gain from $43.26 billion in the year-ago period, according to eMarketer. Online commerce during the months of July and August — the main months for back-to-school shopping — accounted for approximately one-sixth of retail ecommerce sales for the year, according to eMarketer estimates, as well as 70.5% of retail ecommerce sales in third quarter 2014.