Sales & Marketing

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Tuesday by online shopping site PriceGrabber found that 88% of shoppers plan to research their holiday gift purchases in advance to find the best deals.

Of those, 38% plan to spend three to six hours researching holiday gift purchases, 29% plan to spend up to two hours, 19% said they plan to spend over 10 hours and 14% indicated between seven and 10 hours.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said Tuesday that it is launching a new service called Rapid Reload, which allows customers to load money onto prepaid cards.

The service is affiliated with Green Dot Network, InComm's Vanilla Reload Network and First Data's Money Network.

For a fee of $3.74, the program allows customers, effective immediately, to add money to their card at a store register.

Chicago -- Survey results released Tuesday by BDO USA revealed that 51% of retail finance chiefs foresee a 5.9% increase in online sales for full-year 2012.

That compares to 4.1% and 4.5% expected increases in same-store sales and total sales, respectively.

The BDO Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, which examined the opinions of 100 CFOs at leading retailers located throughout the country, found that CFO sentiments were conservative compared to last year, when the respondents predicted 11.9% online sales growth.

WESTPORT, Conn. — Etailing Solutions, an integrated online sales and marketing consultancy, has named Brian Cohen as EVP, general manager.

Cohen most recently led the Digital Shopper Marketing practice at CatapultRPM. Part of the Hyper Marketing Inc. network, Etailing Solutions provides consumer goods companies with data services/insights, strategy development, sales support and visual merchandising.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation released its 2012 holiday forecast on Tuesday, which shows sales increasing 4.1% to $586.1 billion, down from last year’s 5.6% growth.

However, the NRF’s 2012 estimate tops the 10-year holiday sales growth average of 3.5%.

NEW YORK — Research released Monday by Citigroup and published by Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch found that digital sales for the holiday 2012 shopping season are expected to increase at least 20%, thanks to two additional shopping days and amped-up retail marketing efforts.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Regional grocer Meijer said Tuesday it will hire 12,000 new employees in preparation for the 2012 holiday shopping season. Most positions will be part-time.

According to Janet Emerson, executive VP of operations for Meijer, “Our goal is to deliver the best customer experience and the lowest prices, and as we continue to grow it's so important that we have the right levels of staff and the right people in those roles."

NEW YORK — In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Macy's is selling a special I.N.C. International Concepts lace top with part of the proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The I.N.C. International Concepts lace top for $59.50, available exclusively at Macy's and macys.com/pink. During the month of October, 5% of the purchase price will benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.