Marketing

Exactly five years after its launch, Gilt.com is launching its first television campaign. The online flash-sales site grew rapidly in its early years, in part fueled by the recession. A combination of value-conscious consumers and brands with extra inventory helped the site quickly attract a loyal following. Referrals and word-of-mouth have been the brand's bread and butter, supplemented in more recent years by display advertising and search marketing. Now, the e-commerce brand is ready to take things offline.

This week's top article of the week (as determined by readers’ clickthroughs) offers tips to help you personalize the in-store shopping experience, something that will be crucial to any future success in brick-and-mortar retail. Mark Elfenbein, chief business development officer for in-store media specialist Mood Media, delves into three specific areas in regards to personalizing the in-store shopping experience: design, including what consumers will see, hear, feel, smell and taste in your stores; integrating the in-store shopping experience with social media; and implementing a loyalty program that works for your brand. Check it Out for all the details!

Wal-Mart plans to double its multicultural ad spending as part of a sweeping initiative to move the company from a silo-like approach to making sure everyone takes responsibility for multicultural marketing. "One hundred percent of the growth [in sales] is going to come from multicultural customers," Tony Rogers, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of brand marketing and advertising, told the audience at the ANA's Multicultural Marketing and Diversity conference on Tuesday in Miami.

Recognizing the growing importance of online marketing during the holidays, more than 20 percent of retailers in the U.S. are set to significantly increase their spending in either mobile, social or email marketing channels this year. In fact, over 20 percent are allocating more than half of this year's holiday marketing budget to one or more of those three channels. These are highlights from 179 respondents to a recent retail survey, the majority of which report annual revenues from $51 million to $999 million, conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR) late this summer.  

High-end department store Barneys is under fire for featuring a waifish Minnie Mouse in its holiday display rather than the beloved voluptuous, polka dot-sporting rodent of Disney lore. Advocates, plus-sized models and industry veterans alike have condemned Barneys' Minnie makeover into a character more reminiscent of Kate Moss than her full-figured, huggable former self for her debut in the store's Madison Avenue window display on Nov. 14. For the campaign, she's a slinky, sexier Minnie with toothpick legs, long eyelashes and shadowy lids who is draped in a too-short Lanvin mini dress and wearing stilettos thicker than her waist.

Before dumping cash into traditional pre-holiday marketing methods, consider investing in your brand advocates to drive recommendations and sales for your products. Brand advocates are your most passionate and loyal customers. They're eager to support, promote and defend your brand, and the best part is, they'll do it for free. They don't need perks or incentives to share their enthusiasm. They do it because they've had a great experience with your product(s) and they want to help others.

Allowing brands to tell their story inside your store environment without compromising the retail experience can be a challenge. Learn how top retailer, Golfsmith, retains its own retail brand integrity while allowing other dominant brands to experience success. Matt Corey, CMO of Golfsmith, shares the secret of great sales - starting with a core purpose that is greater than your brand.

Target is leaving nothing to chance this holiday season, with a strategy focused on both the emotion of gift-giving as well as competitive promotions that emphasize price. The retailer's executives unveiled at a media event Tuesday plans for aggressive promotional pricing, a heavy rotation of holiday ads in October and November, and tactics to ensure consumers can "shop with confidence," such as a price-match guarantee against a group of competitors that includes popular online retailers such as Amazon.com. The overarching theme for the holiday campaign, which is being handled by 72andSunny, is Dream Big. Save Bigger.

Target and Neiman Marcus made headlines last summer when the pair announced they would collaborate on a holiday collection. Now, they're hoping to repeat the accomplishment with an exclusive sponsorship of the Nov. 11 episode of "Revenge," ABC's popular drama. Target's Neiman Marcus collection will be the exclusive sponsor of the Nov. 11 episode of "Revenge," the midseason finale of the soapy Sunday-night series.

Finance chiefs at dozens of U.S. retailers think their companies have so-called showrooming — the phenomenon of shoppers using brick-and-mortar stores to check out merchandise but then buy it online — under control, according to a poll released Tuesday. What CFOs are more concerned about is how consumer confidence may be affected by next month's presidential election, according to an annual poll by BDO USA, the assurance, tax and financial consulting firm.