Target

Tired of waiting for spending to rebound on its own, retailers are taking matters into their own hands. Stores like Sam’s Club, Target, Toys “R” Us, Staples and Office Depot are offering unconventional promotions meant not only to attract visitors to stores, but also to get them feeling profligate.

Target plans to hold its grand opening for its first store in Manhattan, in East Harlem, on July 25. Target said the store would feature more space devoted to fresh food, everyday essentials and home basics geared for apartment living.

This fall, customers using Target-branded credit cards will a get 5 percent discount on every purchase at its stores. Gauging by the results of an eight-month test Target recently concluded in Kansas City, the company expects the program to drive a 1 percent to 2 percent nationwide increase in sales at stores open at least a year by luring shoppers to its stores more frequently to take advantage of the savings.

On day two of the Retail Marketing Conference in Orlando, Fla., last month, a panel of executives from Best Buy, Dell and 1-800-Flowers.com took part in a roundtable discussion on how their businesses have evolved their brand, e-commerce and marketing strategies to differentiate themselves from their competition through innovation.

Retailers have been plagued by issues; some have suffered from product misses, others from deep discounts, and everyone has been hurt by the decline in consumer spending. But one factor that has actually been a positive for the sector may now begin to put pressure on retailers. After a decade of a favorable sourcing environment, the cost of production is rising. Prices for cotton have nearly doubled over the last year, capacity in China is drying up and freight costs are expected to rise. And retailers, who have finally begun to regain their footing, will now be forced to up their prices to pass along some of the costs to consumers.

The sharp cuts at U.S. Walmart stores, which came ahead of Memorial Day weekend, have already pushed rivals such as Target into price wars. And the markdowns are expected to keep coming throughout the summer. They're one of the boldest moves the world's largest retailer is making to turn around sluggish business at its U.S. namesake chain and win back shoppers from rivals. The cuts aren't across the store but target 22 foods and other essentials at an average savings of 30 percent — splashy enough to get attention and perhaps change perceptions. The retailer is also restoring items like certain soups and laundry detergent it stopped carrying when it tried to declutter its stores. It's also pushing more basic clothing such as socks and underwear after putting too much focus on trendy items that didn't sell.

Many online retailers today offer some type of site-to-store option, such as in-store pickup from store inventory, ship-to-store or a combination of the two. As a result, now is a great time to look at what site functionality and enhancements retailers should consider leveraging when it comes to site-to-store options. What strategy changes would better engage consumers, and why should you spend scarce dollars on these options?

Kohl’s is scouting out locations in Canada in a preliminary look at bringing its mid-priced department stores to the country, industry sources say. U.S. retailers, grappling with economically fragile consumers at home, are increasingly turning to Canada for more fertile ground. Some of them, including Kohl’s, had counted on adding new stores in states such as California, Florida and Arizona but those markets were ravaged in the recession. Now clothier J. Crew, discounter Target Corp. and lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret are among U.S. merchants preparing to take the leap across the border.

Retailers are pulling out all the stops to eliminate waste and reduce costs. Major catalog marketers nationwide have hopped on the “tighten your belt” trend, with an increased demand for smaller, letter-rate catalogs. Dropping millions of large catalogs to underperforming mailing lists is passé, while green design and consumer perceptions are hot, and postage is at an all-time high. 

Tasked with generating higher revenues on smaller budgets in more crowded marketplaces, today's marketers must take advantage of every tool at their disposal. One such resource is the power of word-of-mouth, an approach that uses the innate behavior of a unique group of consumers, known as influencers, to extend the reach of your efforts via “talkability.” A recent whitepaper from ICOM, a division of Epsilon Targeting, examines how to best tap into this rich resource.

Based on the latest findings from ICOM, previous profiles of influencers have to be adjusted. Consider the following:

• consumers are influencers strictly within product categories, not across them all;
• few commonalities exist within influencer demographics, as they cross gender, age, income levels and channels; and
• influencers do their talking in person — at the kitchen table, on the phone, etc. — but opportunities exist to take their messages to new realms, such as social media.