Sales & Marketing

Menlo Park, Calif. – Facebook is expanding the availability of its Place Tips in-store mobile promotion service, and also expanding Place Tips’ reach with free Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. Facebook initially launched a trial of Place Tips in January 2015 and is now rolling it out nationwide.

Simon is expanding the hugely successful Sawgrass Mills outlet and entertainment center in Florida by adding a new, full-price component.

Cincinnati -- Consumers take online reviews seriously — particularly when it comes to reviews about the cleanliness of a business, according to a new Harris Poll conducted by Cintas Corp. The survey revealed that 85% of respondents would not patronize businesses with negative online reviews about the cleanliness of its facilities. Restaurants (75%) ranked at the top of the list of businesses where cleanliness most greatly impacted buying habits.

Burlington, N.J. – Aided by reductions in areas such as interest expense, debt extinguishment and stock option modification, Burlington Stores Inc. more than doubled its net income to $25.69 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from $11.77 million the same period a year earlier. The company plans to open 25 stores during fiscal 2015.

Bealls has come up with a creative marketing campaign to leverage the artistic talent of its customers.

The company has launched the Bealls Florida Artist Competition, which will provide the opportunity for new and established artists to have their artwork produced into a line of Florida-inspired products exclusive to Bealls Florida.

New York -- Alibaba Group wants small business owners from the United States to sell their merchandise on its e-commerce sites is looking for more American products to sell to Chinese consumers.

“We need more American products,” said Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma in a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday.

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State College, Pa. - Consumers are spending 5% less time in supermarkets, compared to the previous year. Concurrently, the sixth annual C-Store MegaStudy from VideoMining Corp. found that shoppers' time in convenience stores increased 6% from the previous year.

VideoMining integrates behavioral data with a range of other data sources, including transaction data and exit interviews. In the C-Store MegaStudy, for example, this integration showed a correlation between time in store and average dollar basket size, which grew by 9%.

The West Coast port dispute and traffic declines due to weather led to a big loss for Christopher & Banks Corp. in the first quarter.