Sales & Marketing

Few vehicles on the NASCAR circuit look as good or are as identifiable on the track as the No. 42 Target Chevrolet with its red-and-white color scheme and distinctive Bullseye logo adorning the hood. Unfortunately for Target, style doesn’t count for anything in auto racing and driver Juan Pablo Montoya failed to win a race this year.

Retailers who promoted their online presence as a way to avoid the crowds this past weekend were rewarded for their efforts with record sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

RESTON, Va. — Retailers who promoted their online presence as a way to avoid the crowds this past weekend were rewarded for their efforts with record sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

Armonk, N.Y. -- U.S. shoppers took advantage of early sales this holiday driving a 39.3% increase in online Thanksgiving day spending while setting the stage for 24.3% online growth on Black Friday compared with the same period last year, according to the fourth annual IBM Coremetrics Black Friday Benchmark study, which tracks more than a million transactions a day, analyzing terabytes of raw data from 500 retailers nationwide.

By Ian Lifshitz, Rainforest Realities

Charlotte, N.C. — Harris Teeter will open a 61,000-sq.-ft. store in Baltimore, making it the chain's first in the city and seventh in Maryland.

The store, which will be located in the McHenry Row neighborhood of Baltimore, opens its doors on Dec. 7. The supermarket places strong emphasis on fresh foods, items-to-go and perishable items, Harris Teeter said.

The chain also is applying for LEED certification for the location, noting the supermarket will include electric vehicle charging stations and an integrated refrigeration.

All those flat screens televisions sticking out of shopping carts in the aisles of Target stores early Friday morning were no optical illusion.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target will donate $5 million to local schools nationwide as part of the company's commitment to give $1 billion for education by the end of 2015.