News

New York City -- Holiday-related sales rose 0.7% from October 28 through December 24, compared with a 2% rise last year, according to a preliminary report from MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse.

"It has been a very uneven industry performance, probably at least for the last year, and that certainly continued into the holiday season," said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, in a Reuters report.

PLANO, Texas — Dr Pepper has launched its latest advertising campaign featuring real people and their “one-of-a-kind” stories.

New York City -- A report issued Thursday by Experian Marketing Services found that online traffic to the top 500 retail sites on Christmas Day 2012 rose 27% compared to 2011.

The top retail sites received more than 115.5 million total U.S. visits, according to Experian. To date the holiday online traffic for the past 7 weeks to retail sites are up 10% for 2012 vs. 2011.

Other report key findings include:
    

Beyonce and Pepsi are reaching out to football fans to participate in a unique crowdsourcing initiative for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.

Super Bowl XLVII is scheduled for February 3 in New Orleans and Beyonce is the featured entertainer for the Pepsi sponsored half time show. What’s different about this year’s event is the beverage brand and entertainer have issued an open call for fans to submit a poses that will be used in an opening video that welcomes Beyonce to the stage.

New York City -- A federal mediator announced Friday that the union for longshoremen along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico has agreed to extend its contract for 30 days.

The extension averts a potential strike that could have crippled operations at ports that handle about 40% of all U.S. container cargo, and it comes after the union and an alliance of port operators and shipping lines resolved a royalty payment issue that had held up contract resolution. Exact terms have not been made public.

New York City -- Online sales rose 22.4% on Christmas Day, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks more than 1 million e-commerce transactions a day from 500 U.S. retailers.

The increase was higher than the 16.4% increase in 2011, and provided one bright spot in what has proven so far to be a lackluster holiday shopping season.

Generally speaking, I’m not big on trend forecasts. Maybe it’s because there are so many of them, particularly at this time of the year. They all seem to blend together into a mass of predictions and statistics.

With sales of spices and seasonings on a steady upswing, the 123-year-old McCormick & Company has opened its first-ever retail location. More than a traditional retail outlet, the 3,818-sq.-ft. McCormick World of Flavors is a destination that aims to build brand excitement and demonstrate the company’s leadership in flavor. It showcases McCormick’s complete family of products and brands, which run the gamut from Old Bay to Thai Kitchen.