Walmart

Leading brands are retailers were recognized for their effectiveness in marketing communications Tuesday night in Chicago when the fourth annual North American Shopper Marketing Effie Awards were held at the Path to Purchase Institute’s annual Shopper Marketing Summit.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores spent $439 million during the past two years to investigate the possible payment of foreign bribes, Bloomberg reported, making it ranks as one of the most expensive probes in U.S. history.

Wal-Mart spent $282 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 and $157 million the previous year, and expenses will continue to rise, according to an annual report filed March 21. On Feb. 20, Wal-Mart projected FCPA probe and compliance costs would be $200 million to $240 million for fiscal 2015.

Julie Eddleman, Erik Keptner and Andy Murray are the newest inductees into the Path to Purchase Institute’s Hall of Fame which recognizes industry leaders for their contributions to the field of shopper marketing.

Eddleman, marketing director of North American brands at Procter & Gamble, Keptner, EVP of marketing at Ahold, and Murrary, SVP of creative at Walmart were recognized at a gala event held in conjunction with the Institute’s annual Shopper Marketing Summit in Chicago.

Last month, Amazon started hiding listings for certain products if they do not have a GTIN, better known as the Universal Product Code (UPC). Now eBay, Google and Walmart have endorsed a drive to help businesses obtain valid GTINs for products sold online.

Both are significant developments in a larger trend, as major e-commerce players look to dramatically reduce the number of inaccuracies that online shoppers encounter every day.
 

Balance Innovations has appointed Al Ruth as EVP of technology innovation.

Ruth is a veteran of the retail technology industry with 17 years of experience managing data warehouse database solutions and customer support for top-tier retail accounts. In this role, Ruth will be responsible for providing technical perspective in sales efforts, working with the account management team and driving key innovation efforts.

Minneapolis -- The distribution of digital coupons on retailers’ websites exploded in 2013, increasing 39.5% over the previous year, according to data released by Marx, a Kantar Media company. The growth of digital coupons was followed by a 25.6% increase in retailer participation in freestanding insert (FSI) coupon promotion pages, and a 12.6% increase in total retailer feature ad pages distributed.

Major changes in retailers’ use of digital coupons and free standing insert promotions were evident in 2013 and especially pronounced at Walmart, Target and Kroger, according to an extensive analysis conducted by the Marx division of Kantar Media.

Retailers’ overall advertising expenditures were relatively in 2013 when compared to the prior year; however, there were large spikes in digital coupon events and free standing insert (FSI) coupon promotion pages.
 

As the retail industry begins to offer shoppers the omnichannel experience they demand, brick-and-mortar stores have never been more important.

This is especially true as it relates to power centers, broadly defined as open-air shopping centers that feature multiple national anchors such as discount department stores, off-price stores, warehouse clubs and other retailers that tend to offer a wide selection in a particular merchandise category at value prices.