- Mark Levin Signs Multi-year Deal with ABC, Expands Show to 3 Hours
- Consumerist.com Adopted by Old-School Consumers Union, Stops Selling Ads
- For Auto Industry, 2009 Holds Even Tighter Ad Budgets
- User-Generated Magazine Publisher 8020 Media Shuts Doors
- Out-of-Home, Fueled by Digital, to Weather Recession Well
- Clear Channel Swaps Cincy Stations for Five in Green Bay
- Consumers Swarm to Discounters for Grocery Items, Don’t Switch Back
- Wikimedia Raises $6.2M to Keep Wikipedia Afloat
- Conde Nast’s Jan. Ad Pages Slip More than Most
- Aegis Faces Possible Sale or Spin-off of Non-core Businesses
- Top US Cities for Charitable Givers, by Category
- Online Fitness, Video Game Spending Outperforms Brick-And-Mortar
- RIM Must Fix Glitches, Boost Satisfaction To Hold Off iPhone
- LCD TV Revenue to Fall YoY for First Time Ever
- Top 10 Broadcast Media Websites - November 2008
- Top 10 Entertainment Online Advertisers by Image-Based Impressions - November 2008
- Top 10 Sports Websites - November 2008
- Eight in 10 Online Holiday Shoppers Read Web Reviews
- Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index: Merry Outlook for Some, but Not Others
- Firefox Share Tops 20% in November
Gap
Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index: Merry Outlook for Few
Some online retailers will thrive in 2009, while others have an uphill battle ahead, if customer satisfaction with top retail websites during the holiday season is any indication.
Amazon and Netflix continued to delight holiday shoppers online while customer satisfaction with websites for Circuit City, Gap, Home Depot, HSN, Neiman Marcus, and Overstock fell below industry standards, according...
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State of U.S. Same Store Sales - November 2008 Data Update
RetailerDaily has compiled comparable store sale data from the SEC filings of ten major U.S. retailers spanning 2007 and 2008 up to the most recently released November numbers. The data excludes fuel sales (which would have distorted numbers because of high gas inflation in 2008) and is available in Excel format from the link below:
Among the highlights this year, Wal-Mart shows more...
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Gap Profits Top Expectations, Again
For the second quarter in a row, Gap posed higher-than-expected quarterly profits: $246 million ($0.35/share) - up 3% from last year’s $238 million ($0.30/share). Analysts had expected earnings of $0.34 per share, Retail Exec reports.
“They’ve done an amazing job of navigating the environment and preserving capital, focusing on growing those gross margins, keeping the balance of a healthy...
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Retailers Rank Low in Natural Search
Retail websites are not showing up near the top of natural search results even though they often bid heavily on the same terms in paid search, according to a study by Conductor Inc.
The study, carried out in conjunction with online ad research firm SpyFu, determined 10 keywords that each company in the Fortune 500 bid on frequently for paid search placement, then examined where the company...
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October Retail Sales Roundup
As October sales figures poured in from retailers, same-store sales for the category fell 0.9% - the first real drop in seven months. Excluding the effect of the shifting Easter holiday, however, it is the first decline since at least 2000, according to Retail Metrics (via The New York Times).
Excluding Wal-Mart, the drop would have been 4.2%, according to the International Council of Shopping...
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Gap Nixes TV, More into Integrated Marketing Campaigns
Gap is ditching its TV ad campaign for the upcoming holiday season and shifting instead to “a mix of traditional and nontraditional” marketing strategies, the company told investors.
An example of the mix is Gap’s new “Vote For…” campaign, which blends physical products like customizable T-shirts and buttons with online features such as webisodes and Facebook Flair. The campaign was designed to...
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September Retail Sales the Worst in 8 Years
Out of the 34 retailers that reported their September sales, 71% missed estimates, making it the worst September since at least 2008, according to Thomson Reuters (via MarketWatch).
Overall, September sales rose 1.2%; but, excluding Wal-Mart, sales in the retail category fell 0.1%. Discounters were the only segment to post gains, though many still missed expectations.
Unstable financial and...
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Gap Buys Athleta for $150 Million
To expand its share of the $31 billion women’s active-apparel sector in the US, Gap will buy activewear company Athleta for a reported $150 million.
Gap has grown its online sales more than 50% in the past couple of years to hit $905 million in 2007 (from $595 million in 2005) and wants to further leverage its online platform, writes The New York Times.
The acquisition will help Gap to do so,...
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Gap Expands Overseas With Franchise Agreements
To make up for lackluster sales in the US, Gap is tapping into foreign markets with plans to expand into Mexico, Egypt, and Jordan via franchised partnerships, writes MarketWatch.
The companies will sell Gap apparel but market it under their own brand names.
Though sales at overseas Gap stores open at least a year declined2% YOY in August, “other” sales - including those at franchisees - have...
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Retail Program ‘Optimizes’ Employees
Some retailers - including Limited, Gap, Williams Sonoma, and Gamestop - are implementing workforce management systems to improve productivity and cut payroll costs by letting algorithms dictate which employees should work when and for how long, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The systems, sold by business system providers like Oracle and SAP, provide “performance metrics” for each employee:...
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