News

Palo Alto, Calif. – HP Autonomy is releasing the HP Digital Marketing Hub, a new solution that enables marketers to deliver personalized experiences based on real-time analysis of diverse and massive volumes of information across multiple customer touchpoints. HP Digital Marketing Hub combines technologies from HP Autonomy, HP Vertica and HP Labs and leverages the HP Converged Cloud to provide advanced marketing analytics.

Mars Chocolate North America has introduced a new set of planning tools to help retailers develop their marketing strategies and build chocolate sales.

The new resources include the 2014 Moments Calendar Video, year-long display programs, a convenience channel 2014 Planning Toolkit, a revamped Mars24seven.com and the Performance Plus Rewards Program.

Stride Rite Children's Group, a leading marketer of children's footwear brands, is partnering with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to help families stay safe while trick-or-treating this Halloween season.  

Stride Rite offers a wide variety of comfortable shoes, featuring everything from Star Wars to Captain American, which complement Halloween costumes. Stride Rite also offers a variety of styles, from Spider-Man to Disney Princesses, which incorporate unique light-up technology to help trick-or-treaters stand out on Halloween night.

Shoppers responding to a recent National Retail Federation survey said they expect to spend slightly less this holiday season in contrast to an earlier economic forecast by the trade group which indicated spending during November and December would rise by 3.9%.

Bentonville, Ark. – Kenyan retailer Naivas reportedly will not sell a controlling interest in the company to Wal-Mart’s South African subsidiary Massmart. According to Reuters, a Naivas executive said the retailer no longer plans to sell 50% plus one share of its stock to Massmart.

The Vitamin Shoppe has announced the grand opening of a new distribution center in Ashland, Va., which positions the company for future growth. The new 311,740-sq.-ft. facility began receiving inbound inventory in June and outbound shipments to stores began in September.

Washington, D.C. - Consumers will take a conservative approach to spending this holiday season. According to NRF’s holiday consumer spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average holiday shopper will spend $737.95 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, 2% less than the $752.24 they actually spent last year.  Despite this reduction in individual holiday budgets, NRF is forecasting holiday sales will increase 3.9% to $602.1 billion.

New York -- Luxury department store retailer Neiman Marcus and Popsugar, a global media and technology company, have partnered to create a limited-edition box filled with a luxury assortment of gifts that can be shipped directly to consumers’ homes.

Available just in time for the holiday season, the assortment will be hand-selected by Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing and Popsugar founder and editor-in-chief Lisa Sugar. The box is marketed under Popsugar's monthly subscription box service, Popsugar Must Have.