News

By Anna Convey, OpenSpan

Dallas -- Chili’s Grill & Bar will bring tabletop tablets from Ziosk to all company-owned restaurants nationwide by the first half of 2014.

With the primary purpose of enhancing the guest experience, the Ziosk seven-inch tablet will be displayed on each table in the restaurant, giving patrons the ability to interactively peruse menu items and specials as well as order beverages and desserts. Customers can also use the tablets to play games together, share their real-time feedback with the brand and pay the check right at the table

New York -- Foot Locker, Inc. is introducing Six02.com, the e-retail extension of its Six:02 stores aimed at women. In addition to offering a full assortment of women’s athletic apparel and products, the site features the Get Fit Guide, a custom online tool to lead customers through the product offerings to find the perfect fit, style, and product based on preferred workout activity and body shape.

Ottawa, Ontario -- The Canadian government is reportedly seeking to boost penalties for retailers caught using “zapper” software that can delete or modify transactional data in electronic POS systems to illegally hide sales.

Chicago -- Retail sales are forecast to rise 2.4% during the holiday season of November and December while total retail traffic will decrease 1.4% as compared to the year-ago period, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics. The company also notes that retailers have less time to capture peak holiday spending: There are only 25 days lie between Black Friday (Nov. 29) and Christmas this year, compared to 31 days in 2012. And unlike last year, consumers have only four (not five) full weekends to shop.

ST. LOUIS — Friskies has formally extended its relationship with Internet cat sensation Grumpy Cat.

Grumpy Cat starred in a celebrity edition of the Friskies “Will Kitty Play With It?” online video game show series and national promotional media tour back in March. Now, Grumpy Cat, real name Tardar Sauce, will join forces on additional Friskies online programs and integrated opportunities.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Interactive multichannel retailer HSN has appointed Matthew Rubel to the company's board of directors. Rubel's appointment brings the number of HSNi board members to 10.

nGage Labs, a leading provider of in-location shopper engagement solutions, has appointed Michael Ricci as the company's as chief marketing officer, a newly created global post reporting to CEO Rod Ford.

CINCINNATI — Vantiv, a leading provider of payment processing services and related technology solutions for merchants and financial institutions of all sizes, has named former PayPal and Visa executive Daniela Mielke as the company's chief strategy officer.  

Mielke will report directly to CEO Charles Drucker and will be responsible for leading the development and oversight of company strategy in support of Vantiv's growth objectives and to help drive product innovation, profitability, revenue and scale throughout the organization.

Longstanding household brand names Quilted Northern, Jockey and Dawn are doing something right, namely, employing a mix of traditional and digital marketing strategies which enabled them to outshine trendsetting technology brands, according to Landor’s 2013 Breakaway Brands Study.

Amazon was the only brand born in the digital era to make the top 10, along with its Kindle sub-brand. Apple fell off the list entirely.