Sales & Marketing

Online high-end candy retailer Sugarfina has opened its first-ever store, a 1,400-sq.-ft. boutique in Los Angeles. The brand is known for its signature turquoise Bento Boxes, a luxurious candy gift box, and such “cocktail” candies as Champagne Gummy Bears, Cuba Libre (spiced rum and coke gummies) and Peach Bellini Gummies.

Independent agency network Project: WorldWide and its shopper engagement agency, Shoptology, have named Ken Madden as head of digital at Shoptology. Madden will report directly to Shoptology CEO Charlie Anderson.

San Francisco – Seventy-three percent of consumers think that companies are paying more attention to generating sales across multiple channels than they are in delivering a seamless customer service experience across those same channels, according to a global survey of 7,000 consumers in seven countries. Meanwhile, when consumers can’t get an answer or fast response elsewhere, they are falling back to phone support as their primary contact method.

By Andrew Kokes, global VP, marketing & product management, Sitel

One of the most significant trends in customer engagement over the past several years is the rise of social media outside marketing and inside customer service. Social media is moving beyond contacts and interactions to a culture of community and collaboration for the most engaged and customer-centric companies.

Walmart’s opponents are a creative lot when it comes to thinking up new ways to vilify the company. The most recent example involves data collection and Walmart’s use of personal information which is designed to feed into the real and imagined concerns American’s have regarding the NSA’s spying on American citizens.

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack has opened another of its new concept stores, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. It is Radio Shack’s fourth new format location in Manhattan.

The format feature an upgraded shopping experience, which showcases the company's new look, and incorporates interactive areas designed to help shoppers improve their technology profile.

Some features include:

Meijer is extending Cyber Monday into a weeklong sales event on Meijer.com, offering customers deep discounts and free shipping on orders of more than $75. The Midwestern retailer will offer Cyber Week savings from Sunday through Dec. 7.

Hampstead, Md. – Jos. A. Bank is one more retailer planning to start Black Friday while it’s still Thanksgiving. The retailer will hold its annual Black Friday doorbusters event from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m. Thanksgiving night and 6 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29.