Loyalty Marketing

Louisville – Convenience chain Thorntons Inc. has implemented the Paytronix Loyalty Platform to support its new Refreshing Rewards customer loyalty program across 174 locations. Leveraging the Paytronix loyalty engine enabled the c-store chain to quickly test a variety of elements in a secure, market-focused pilot program and then rapidly roll out the program to all its stores.

New York -- DSW Inc. is opening new stores in Watertown, New York, and Louisville, Kentucky, on Oct. 2. The Watertown store will be located in the Salmon Run Mall and the Louisville store will be located across from St. Matthew’s Mall.

DSW offers other features including the DSW Rewards loyalty program and the Shoe Lovers community on Facebook.

Rack Room Shoes builds mobile loyalty program from ground up

New York -- Consumers consider social media a less important part of their customer journey – from awareness to post-sale activity – compared to two years ago, according to a survey by Capgemini, a leading provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services.

Increasingly, people are endlessly fascinated by the traits, values, work habits and shopping patterns of millennials, also called Generation Y. Why is all this attention being paid to people born between the early 1980s and 2000s? It’s quite simple: They are a generation of influence, in numbers similar to that of baby boomers, but with an outlook unlike one we have ever seen.

According to Javelin Strategy & Research, by 2015, Gen Y income is projected to exceed that of boomers.

It may only be October, but here’s a prediction: It’s going to be a high-tech holiday, and I’m not talking about the gift-giving part of it. (Although in a refrain I think will play out in countless homes over the next couple of months, my 20-year-old godson has told his family the ONLY thing he wants for Christmas is a new Apple phone.)

But the big story this year is likely to be retailers’ increased use of emerging technologies that bring the digital and brick-and-mortar worlds together.

Seattle -- Social shopping, e-commerce videos, free shipping and in-store pickup rank among the top trends expected to drive holiday sales for online retailers, according to Blueocean Market Intelligence, a global analytics and insights provider.

Lands' End Business Outfitters has launched a new online customer shopping experience at business.landsend.com, which lets business customers do everything from see how their logo looks on a selected fabric to manage account information and accessing order history.