Marketing

A panel of retail and mobile experts will discuss how to determine the best mobile strategy for your brand.

Learn four ways online retailers can increase consumer trust and how that increased trust can lead to an increase in online sales.

Hear how BuildDirect used growth hacking, specifically conversion optimization, to increase revenues by more than $1 Million per month.

Learn best practices for omnichannel integration and how live video can bring the in-store experience to e-commerce channels.

Hear a study in short-term versus long-term marketplaces strategies and how one company has made it a driving force for their sales.

Listen in as these movers and shakers discuss their digital retail startups and how they’ve broken through the boundaries of tradition.

J.C. Penney is tapping former Mondelez International Chief Marketing Officer Mary Beth West to lead the company's marketing. Ms. West, who currently sits on the retailer's board of directors, will serve as J.C. Penney's executive vice president, chief customer and marketing officer beginning June 1. Ms. West, who had a long career at Kraft Food Group before assuming the top marketing role at Mondelez, will step down from J.C. Penney's board when she takes on the new role. She will replace Debra Berman, who departed in March after less than two years at the company.

Normcore? So last year. String bikinis? Most definitely over. Even interest in skinny jeans may be waning, if 6 billion fashion-related queries by Google users are any indication of this year's most popular trends. Instead, consumers are googling tulle skirts, midi skirts, palazzo pants and jogger pants, according to the company, which plans to start issuing fashion trend reports based on user searches twice a year. The new trend aggregations are part of the company's bid to become a bigger player in e-commerce and fashion beyond its product search engine or advertising platform.

Is she still alive? That's the question I got asked by one of the resident millennials as I sat at my desk reading a Staples’ press release announcing the chain had reached a deal to sell a line of home office products under the Martha Stewart brand. The deal marks the second time Ms. Stewart and Staples have worked together. The chain began selling Ms. Stewart's branded office supplies, such as sticky notes, journals and rubber bands, in its stores and on its website in 2012.

While lululemon left little to the imagination with its see-through yoga pants crisis two years ago, the active wear chain has applied much imagination to its menswear, which could create renewed energy. To be specific, lululemon athletica is directing our focus to an entirely different part of the anatomy. Its ABC pants, which stands for (apologies) anti-ball crushing, are hoped to make headway in what lulu sees as a $1 billion opportunity: men's clothing.