News

New York City -- Barnes & Noble invited Amazon.com's affiliates to join its program instead in an "open letter" Monday, as Amazon continues to oppose legislation that requires it to collect sales taxes in several states, the Associated Press reported.

Wells Fargo retail analyst Matt Nemer put several leading retailers to the test this week with an innovative approach to research. According to Barron’s, he went on a $5,000 shopping spree on the websites of some of the largest Internet-only and traditional retailers. He said Amazon.com offered the best shopping experience, and he rated the retailer at outperform. Walmart.com was said to have higher prices than Amazon’s, but had strong customer service and didn’t showed up as well in searches.

BURBANK, Calif. — Gearing up for the summer release of superhero flick Green Lantern, Warner Bros. Consumer Products is teaming up with licensee Mattel to help fans fight evil through a new branded toy line.

WBCP said Mattel will bring "Green Lantern" to life by producing the lineup, which includes:

• The Green Lantern Ring Blast jet figure and vehicle;

• The Green Lantern Battle Shifters figures;

• The Green Lantern Movie Masters figures; and

By Akhilesh Srivastava, [email protected]
According to NRF Retail Horizons Benchmark Report, two key initiatives to keep retailers competitive in 2010 were optimization and streamlining of their internal operations to reduce operating costs and improving their customer centricity to win the share of wallet.

This coming Sunday will be a big weekend for brand impressions as the Target Bullseye takes to the track at the Daytona 500 on the hood of the Earnhardt Ganassi with Felix Sabates number 42 Target Chevrolet driven by Juan Pablo Montoya. The race is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox and kicks off a NASCAR season that will last until November. Montoya has been an average performer so far during the championship series known as the Spring Cup, but his chances of success and exposure for Target will be determined as much by luck as driving skill.

New York City -- Information Builders, a provider of business intelligence solutions, announced that Helzberg Diamonds has standardized on the WebFocus BI platform to provide advanced analysis and reporting capabilities to managers at 230 stores across the United States.

Five limited-edition General Mills brand products hit the cereal aisle at Target stores this week as part of limited duration promotion that features package designs from the 50’s, 60’s and 80’s.

Brands and the year of the featured packaged design include Cheerios 1956, Trix 1968, Honey Nut Cheerios 1984, Cinnamon Toast Crunch 1984 and Lucky Charms 1989. The package designs were chosen based on a national survey conducted by General Mills.

NEW YORK -- BrandSpark International, along with Better Homes and Gardens, released the top shopper trends from the third annual Best New Product Award (BNPA) American Shopper Study, which surveyed more than 63,000 Americans.