Sales & Marketing

With a little over two weeks until Black Friday weekend, Best Buy, HHgregg and other retailers are hoping many U.S. consumers have made shopping after Thanksgiving dinner a holiday tradition.

The consumer electronics retailers joined a growing list of retailers that released their Thanksgiving 
plans this week. Both Best Buy and HHgregg have decided to keep their same holiday sales plans from last year.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- EDENS adds seven new retailers to its Union Planters Plaza located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. These openings follow the center's complete redevelopment which included the addition of a community green space.

 Any toy purchased at Meijer through Nov. 30 will help the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer grant a child's wish this holiday season.

Meijer is once again donating a portion of customer purchases made in the toy department, up to $400,000, to children's gift-giving programs throughout the Midwest.

Ikea’s U.S. expansion to bring it to another new market

Ikea is looking to open its first store in the state of Indiana.

The home furnishings giant is submitting plans to the City of Fishers, Indiana, to open a 296,000-sq.-ft. store 15 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis.

Pending approvals, construction of the new Ikea could begin as early as summer 2016, with an opening in fall 2017.

The world’s biggest online shopping holiday got off to a roaring start in China.

In the first 90 minutes of the “Singles Day” sale, which kicked off at 12 midnight in Beijing on Nov. 11, total sales exceeded $5 billion, Alibaba reported. About 74% of sales were from mobile phones.

Estimates are that annual shopping extravaganza could reach as high as $11 billion in sales.

For merchants looking to sustainably grow their revenue and future-proof their business in an ever-increasing competitive landscape, there is almost no better decision they can make than expanding beyond their domestic market.

It turns out that the No. 1 retail perk for shoppers is not speedy delivery, according to Deloitte's 30th annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends.

The survey shows that free shipping is the top retailer policy preferred by shoppers. Furthermore, the ubiquity of personal mobile devices allows consumers to take their time researching purchases and store policies giving them opportunity to request exactly what they want.

Taubman Centers is expanding its use of a mobile app that lets retail tenants connect with shoppers once they sign into a center’s WiFi network and offer them store-specific deals.