Marketing

Graduation season brings with it backyard parties and nostalgia, but it also comes with lots of interesting retail data. After comparing the shopping habits of more than 8 million people nationwide for the time periods before and during graduation season, RetailNext found that the nation as a whole declined roughly 5 percent in shopping for traditional gifting items during graduation.

Bon-Ton Stores has deployed the first round of more than 100 kiosks, which are equipped with endless aisle, loyalty program, wayfinding and product lookup applications. The chain first implemented kiosks throughout a few stores last summer during a piloting phase, and expect to expand the project to remaining retail stores as return on investment permits.

When J.C. Penney announced its radical no-sale "Fair and Square" pricing strategy at the beginning of the year, comp-store numbers started tumbling soon thereafter. The retailer announced earlier last month that it would backtrack on the plan a bit, having concluded (correctly) that consumers like the word "sale." Then its top marketer abruptly resigned. There's speculation that CEO Ron Johnson will have to cave and return to incessant couponing and sale events. I hope not.

ShopAtHome.com, a coupon search engine that connects upwards of 12 million consumers each month to the best deals and cash-back savings, today released its first Buy-havior Report. The report, which tracks consumer search habits on the site, found that when consumers search for online coupons and savings, 62 percent searched for store-centric deals, 24 percent for product-specific coupons, while only 14 percent searched specifically for brand name product discounts online.

Duckwall-Alco said Thursday it's officially changing its name to Alco Stores, Inc. An amendment at Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting was approved. The company’s ticker symbol on NASDAQ is now “ALCS.” The 111-year-old chain has 216 locations in 23 states, mostly in small-town environments. Plans are on tap to open five new stores in fiscal 2013, while eight underperforming stores are slated to be closed.

Toys"R"Us has enhanced its loyalty program with the launch of a new integrated, point-based system that delivers streamlined benefits for members, as well as new and existing "R"Us credit card holders. Rewards"R"Us members can now enjoy unlimited access to expanded loyalty benefits when shopping at Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores nationwide and online at Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com. Toys"R"Us is also launching its new credit card program, including an "R"Us-branded credit card and a MasterCard co-branded card, issued by GE Capital Retail Bank, connecting cardholders with all the perks of Rewards"R"Us and more. 

Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo recently took over Pinterest to promote its new line of shirts. Teaming up with creative agency FirstBorn, Uniqlo utilized the power of Pinterest’s scrolling to create giant animated blocks that were featured in key Pinterest categories – men’s apparel, women’s apparel, geek, fitness and sports. The agency used hundreds of shell accounts on Pinterest to pin images simultaneously for the Uniqlo Dry Mesh Project campaign. Pinterest users scrolled through to see images of Dry T-shirts on colorful mosaics.

Crafting queen Jo Pearson, creative expert for Michaels Stores, will hold court as one of three judges on TLC's new competition series, "Craft Wars." The show, hosted and executive produced by celebrity crafter Tori Spelling, premieres June 26. Pearson's 25-plus years of experience creating thousands of projects for North America's largest arts and crafts specialty retailer landed her the ultimate crafting gig. 

Given current economic conditions, attracting new customers remains a top challenge for small to midsize retailers, with more than 50 percent citing it as their No. 1 concern, according to a recent Dydacomp survey.

The Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation, quarterback Drew Brees and imPACT for PACE (Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education) have joined forces to help educate athletes at all levels of the dangers of concussions. Parents, coaches and school officials can visit www.DicksSportingGoods.com/PACE to sign up eligible middle, high school and youth athletic organizations to receive free ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) testing software licenses, which provide baseline tests for up to 300 young athletes free of charge for one year ($500 value).