News

Target is trying to increase its appeal with Hispanic shoppers by launching a new marketing campaign focusing on customs that are unique to many Latino communities.

The campaign, called “Sin traduccion,” or “No translation,” will feature two television ads, as well as digital and in-store components.

According to Ad Age, the campaign is meant to be a celebration of moments, traditions and emotions that are treasured by many in the Hispanic culture and spark a larger conversation with the community.

Stage Stores' approach to operating department stores in small to mid-sized towns enabled the company to grow holiday season sales and profits faster than some of its big city rivals.

The company’s 853 departments stores, operating under the banners of Bealls, Goody’s, Palais Royal, Peebles and Stage, grew sales 6.6% to $525 million and profits from continuing operations increased 35% to $43.7 million during the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Same store sales increased 6.4% and the company’s e-commerce business grew 30%.

By Hyaat Chaudhary, CEO, Carbon Media Group

At a time when the traditional separation between online and brick-and-mortar retailers is blurring, brands need to be smarter to win on the digital front. The ability to establish a presence online — and to capitalize on digital marketing and promotions driven by social media and other online tools — is no longer a luxury: it is a necessity.

Target Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell unveiled a wide-ranging growth strategy that combines familiar concepts with dozens of new initiatives related to merchandising, digital, expense control, process improvement and a major shift in corporate culture designed to drive growth for the next five years.

Houston – A dropping cost of sales helped Stage Stores Inc. boost net income 76% to $43.72 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, up from $18.26 million the same quarter a year earlier. Net sales climbed 6% to $524.89 million from $492.54 million, and same-store sales rose 6.4%.

Stage Stores plans to close 10-20 stores and open two new stores during fiscal 2015.

On the heels of Samsung’s announcement that it would roll out Samsung Pay in the United States this summer, PayPal has announced it is buying mobile wallet technology startup Paydiant.

Paydiant technology powers payment apps for such retail brands as Subway and Harris Teeter supermarkets. But its most notable retail client is the merchant consortium MCX, which is developing an in-store payment app (widely viewed as an alternative to Apple Pay) called CurrentC. Walmart, Best Buy and Sears Holdings Corp. are part of MCX.

New York -- Visa Inc., Pizza Hut and Accenture have teamed up to develop a connected car to test mobile and online purchases on the go. The connected car is expected to feature Visa Checkout (Visa’s online payment service), cellular connectivity, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Beacon technology deployed at Pizza Hut restaurants to alert staff when the customer has arrived and is ready to pick up the order. Accenture is managing the integration of the technologies.

Earlier this month when Barnes & Noble reversed itself and said it was going to keep its Nook division, analysts wondered what the retailer would do next. We now have an answer.