Retail

In case you missed it, one of America’s biggest and most iconic brands was in the news recently for something other than the latest sales figures: Wal-Mart announced an ambitious plan to hire approximately 100,000 veterans over the next five years.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Social marketing platform Kenshoo Social said Wednesday that it has completed an integrated Facebook marketing campaign for Zappos and cloud-based social marketing platform, Shoutlet.

During a two-month test on a single-brand page, Zappos’ Facebook posts generated approximately 85,000 visits to its website. The traffic produced an average order value on par with its paid search and social marketing programs and achieved an average conversion rate of 1.75%.

New York -- Department store retailers reported strong sales in January as shoppers responded positively to post-holiday clearance events.  

Overall, the 20 retailers reporting January comps saw an average rise of 5.1%, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, which beat the mall trade group’s 3% forecasted rise.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears is headed to the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival this month to showcase its new lines of outdoor living furniture, patio sets and Kenmore grills.

Dallas -- Alliance Data Systems Corp. announced Thursday that its Canadian loyalty business signed a new multi-year agreement with Staples Canada Inc., which operates about 330 locations under the banners Staples and Bureau en Gros.

Staples Canada joined Alliance’s Air Miles Reward Program, under which reward miles are redeemed for more than 1,000 different rewards. The retailer will launch the program in-store and online in March.

Target salvaged its fourth quarter with a 3.1% increase in January same store sales that followed disappointing results in December and November.

Target said sales for the five weeks ended February 2, increased 29.6% to nearly $6 billion due to the inclusion of an extra week in the recent reporting period.

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Thursday by PriceGrabber found that 62% of consumers plan to spend as much as $100 on gifts for Valentine’s Day, down from 68% in 2012. However, 36% plan to spend more than $100 compared with 28% last year.  

January same-store sales grew 4% at Costco’s U.S. locations excluding fuel sales.