Loyalty Marketing

Boulder, Colo. -- Nordstrom is North America’s overall favorite fashion retailer for the second consecutive time, according to a new study of more than 6,800 consumers conducted by Market Force Information (Market Force), a provider of customer intelligence solutions.

Kohl’s is the most visited for casual clothing, business attire and children’s clothing, while Dick’s Sporting Goods won out for sports apparel and DSW for footwear.

Aisle50, an online technology platform that delivers grocery discounts on major and local brands to consumers, has teamed up with premium brands such as Clorox, Starbucks, Smuckers and Red Bull to offer consumers recurring discounts on the products they buy most often.

According to Aisle50, the move gives its retailer partners, which include Raley’s, Shop ‘n Save and Homeland Stores, an e-commerce platform that is unique within the world of groceries.

Cincinnati – Kroger Co. reported a lower third-quarter profit that matched Wall Street's view. Net income fell to $299 million from $317 million a year earlier, partly on the costs from the pending acquisition of Harris Teeter.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th has launched its first e-commerce site, saksoff5th.com, on the Demandware platform. The new site is a significant milestone in the company’s omni-channel strategy, which will also include mobile and tablet commerce and digital integration with stores.

CodeBroker has developed a marketing tool that enables retailers to securely deliver money savings offers to potential consumers via Facebook, while increasing brand awareness and building customer loyalty.

Created with retailers who are reluctant to leverage Facebook to offer discounts in mind, Smart Coupons for Facebook lets retailers know when an offer is received on Facebook, when it is viewed and when and where it was redeemed — which, according to CodeBroker, provides retailers with a comprehensive picture of the purchase funnel.

Portland, Ore. -- Research conducted by InComm found that 67% of consumers surveyed have previously bought a gift card from an online website or mobile website/app, while 33% have not.

Respondents answered questions about their purchasing habits and their intentions for purchasing gift cards from websites and mobile devices – as well as digital cards specifically – this holiday season and beyond.

Highlights of the survey include:

Virtual Piggy has changed the name of its youth payments service to Oink.

The service enables teens to manage — with parental supervision — their allowances online, shop safely and track budgets, thereby teaching them financial management skills. Now called Oink, the service is available online or via mobile, and is 100% free to use. Oink will continue to employ Virtual Piggy’s privacy protection protocols, compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Oakland, Calif. -- Current consumer behavior indicates that most consumers are more concerned with how well retailers are able to deliver goods according to customer preferences than about ordering via social media channels.

A GT Nexus online survey, conducted in association with YouGov, showed that while 3% of respondents say they have purchased goods using social media channels, consumers generally cite the inclusion of delivery/collection options as being important to them when ordering a product either online or in-store (75%).