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Under Armour recently entered into an agreement with the Junior Tennis Champion Center, where it will outfit the players at the College Park facility that trains some of the best young talent in the game. Trainers, coaches and instructors also will wear the gear and test out new products for the company. Also, the South Baltimore company says it will soon announce some new names on its list of tennis endorsements, which already includes top-ranked American player Robby Ginepri.

Retail brand consultants Interbrand Design Forum today released the Most Valuable U.S. Retail Brands report, the second ranking of the top 50 retail brands. Walmart claimed top honors as the most valuable retail brand, followed by Target (No. 2), Best Buy (No. 3), The Home Depot (No. 4) and Walgreens (No. 5).

If you're wondering, "How am I going to increase my online sales and profits in 2010?" here's an easy answer: TEST! An e-commerce site should run at least one test a month with the potential to increase sales by 10 percent. These are seven keys to a successful online testing program. Plus: Download the Chi-Square Test spreadsheet to prove your tests are statisically valid.

Pop-up Stores Attract New Shoppers for Target; Staples' Goal-Setting Program Brings Retailer Prospects; Untapped Networks.

The jury will be out for some time on just how much money can be made directly from social media. But retailers rooted in stores, catalogs and the web have worked diligently to explore ways they can squeeze incremental revenue from this emerging channel.

Weymouth, MA & Philadelphia, PA, January 25, 2010 -- InfoTrends and North American Publishing Company (NAPCO) announced today the launch of InterACT!, an educational forum for marketers, brand owners and service providers on cross-media direct marketing opportunities and strategies. The event is scheduled for August 10-11, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, IL.

From a return on investment standpoint, it's important to segment customers based on pricing preferences. Once customers are placed into various pricing segments, carefully analyze year-over-year performance to see if they're willing to move from low-price item segments to discount/promo segments to full-price/high-priced items.

The biggest snowstorm of the season to date is scheduled to arrive along major population centers on the East Coast on Sat. Dec. 19, the final Saturday before Christmas, also known as Super Saturday, which is traditionally one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
                   

Since so many marketers are focused on short-term results, here are the ways to best optimize market segmentation, competitive strategies/branding, acquisition products, multichannel marketing, shopping behavior and customer segmentation for immediate return on investment.

Victoria's Secret Online, Offline Coupons Draw Shoppers; Target Catalog Goes Back to School