Target

InterACT! Virtual Conference & Expo, produced by Target Marketing and Printing Impressions, proudly announces the opening keynote titled Get Bold! Creating a Social Business Agenda, to be presented by Sandy Carter, vice president, social business evangelism and sales at IBM Corporation.

New York City -- Warehouse club operators Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club continue to benefit from high fuel prices and bargain-seeking consumers, with both chain reporting solid results. Costco reported a 10% rise in same-store sales In July, beating Wall Street's expectations for an 8.6% increase. The company’s strongest performance was overseas, with international same-stores sales jumping 22%. Its U.S. sales increased 6%. Removing gas price inflation and stronger foreign currencies, same-store sales gained 5% for the month. Costco said that total revenue for the four weeks ended July 31 rose 15% to $6.74 billion. The warehouse club

Deep discounts and the warmest July weather in decades brought U.S. shoppers to malls, helping many retail chains report healthy monthly sales increases at established stores. July figures provide an early read on consumer demand in the U.S. economy at the start of the back-to-school season, the second-biggest selling period of the year after Christmas. Warehouse club Costco and teen apparel chain Hot Topic posted some of the biggest gains so far. Costco Wholesale Corp reported a 10 percent rise in total July sales at stores open at least a year, beating the analysts' average estimate of an

Think back to the last time you were in the market for a new printer, camera or sofa. If you used a search engine like Google or Bing, chances are you were served up a mess of things from videos to news results to images. That mess probably included ads that were pretty far off the mark.

Broader economic warning signs — including a persistently high unemployment rate — have yet to slow down the recovery in retail sales. As a result, demand for retail space continues to grow and new concepts, of which there were few to be found at the depths of the recession, have re-emerged.

Hasbro will unveil its exclusive My Little Pony retail program at U.S. Target stores July 31. The program features an out-of-aisle premium My Little Pony Canterlot space in the toy department. Inspired by "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic," the Hasbro Studios TV show airing on The Hub, products in the Canterlot section will include bedding, costumes, books, t-shirts, arts and crafts, activity sets and exclusive toys based on characters Princess Celestia, her sister Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle. Canterlot at Target is a showcase example of how Hasbro reinvents our brands and works with retailers and licensees to

One of the biggest challenges for retailers today is obtaining customer loyalty. How do you retain the customers you already have, while at the same time attracting new ones? Gone are the days when retailers exclusively owned a person’s loyalty. In today’s competitive environment most retailers and brands are actively trying to figure out ways to grab that customer and divert their attention away from the competitive landscape.

Target shoppers at a store in Van Nuys, Calif. were surprised and briefly inconvenienced when a flash mob assembled by season nine "American Idol" contestant Todrick Hall took over the front end of the store and blocked access to check-out stands. Dozens of dancers dressed in red and black outfits performed a well-choreographed routine in the aisles. At the conclusion of the routine they dispersed into nearby merchandise displays and checkout lanes leaving Hall in the aisle alone with a shopping cart as applause is heard in the background.

With Forrester Research estimating that U.S. online retail sales will grow at a 10 percent annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015, reaching $279 billion, retailers have become laser-focused on creating and maintaining customer loyalty and improving the online shopping experience. However, as the online shopping habits of consumers evolve, so too must retailers’ strategies to ensure the most customized online shopping experience. Here are three strategies that online retailers can implement to improve the customer shopping experience:

Target, Kohl's and J.C. Penney ranked highest among discounters in consumer perception in the first half of 2011, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The company interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year. Here's YouGov’s Retail Buzz scores for discounters in the first half of 2011: Target (33.9), Kohl's (29.5), J.C. Penney (23.9), Costco (23.3), Dollar Tree (16.2), Wal-Mart (15.7), Sam's Club (15.4), Big Lots (15.4) and Dollar General (13.8).