Sales & Marketing

New York -- A recent study shatters several myths about the largest generation of young people since the baby boomers: millennials.

“At 79 million strong, the millennial generation has a tremendous amount of spending power that is growing rapidly,” said Robert Tomei, IRI’s president of consumer and shopper marketing.

Tomei said he sees a lot of potential for marketing growth.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Social media and search engines are two of the most popular online destinations, but are heading in different directions when it comes to customer satisfaction. According to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), social media’s index score climbed 4% to a score of 74 on a 100-point scale.
    

New York -- A mannequin storm has been playing out on Facebook.

British fast-fashion giant Topshop said it will make a change in mannequins a customer complained on her Facebook page about the chain's "ridiculously tiny" mannequin.

In the post, which went viral, the customer appealed to the merchant to take responsibility "for the impression you have on women and young girls."

Whole Foods Market Inc. says it is taking the right steps to position itself for the long term and sees demand for more than 1,200 stores in the United States despite reporting a lackluster increase in same store sales for the third quarter.  

The health foods grocery retailer posted a same store sales increase of just 1.3% for third quarter ended July 5. Analysts had expected a 3% increase. The company did report  earnings of 43 cents per share on $3.63 billion in revenue. Total sales increased 8% to a record $3.6 billion.

Framingham, Mass. – The TJX Cos. Inc. apparently has a taste for vegemite.

TJX is purchasing Trade Secret, an off-price retailer that operates 35 stores in Australia, from Gazal Corp. Ltd. for $58.45 million. The acquisition of Trade Secret provides TJX an opportunistic entry into Australia, where it currently operates one of its 13 buying offices.

TJX has been on a growth and revenue spree of late, and now the off-price retailer is apparently looking to expand down under.

Vancouver – Looking to up its appeal with men, Lululemon has added a new product (if only for the short term) to its mix: beer.

Victoria's Secret has a new cadre of Angels to celebrate the launch of two new lingerie collections.