- 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
Super/Hypermarket
Consumers Swarm to Discounters for Grocery Items, Don’t Switch Back
Though consumer prices have fallen, those who started buying grocery itmes at discount stores have not switched back to their traditional grocery stores, reports the Gannett News Service.
Because canned foods and other staples are still cheaper at discount retailers like Dollar General and Wal-Mart, many are going more often to those stores for food and beverage purchases. Some 36% of consumers...
Continue Reading »
‘Wal-Mart’s Worst Nightmare’
British megaretailer Tesco is challenging Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, on its home turf, the US—though Wal-Mart is fighting back using Tesco’s own tactics, writes BusinessWeek.
Wal-Mart countered Tesco’s Nov. 2007 launch of Fresh & Easy—a chain of 10,000 sq. ft. convenience stores in California, Nevada, and Arizona—with its own similar-format Marketside, in Arizona.
Still, “Tesco is...
Continue Reading »
Retailers Beware: Worst Is Yet to Come, but Hope on Horizon
Retailers that survived the 2008 holiday season shouldn’t pin their hopes on the new year, as retail sales will remain weak throughout 2009 and won’t rebound until 2010, TNS Retail Forward forecasts.
For 2009, sales growth for the year (excluding automobiles and gasoline) is forecast to approach 2% compared with the 2.3% average growth for 2008 through November, based on data reported by the US...
Continue Reading »
Wal-Mart to Pay at Least $352 Million to Settle 63 Wage-Related Suits
Wal-Mart Stores will pay at least $352 million, but not more than $640 million, to settle 63 class-action lawsuits over claims of wage violations, the world’s largest retailer and attorneys for the plaintiffs announced Tuesday.
As a result of the settlement, Wal-Mart will record an after-tax charge of approximately $250 million to continuing operations in its fiscal fourth quarter—or...
Continue Reading »
Wal-Mart Only Retail Winner in Bleak Christmas Shopping Season
Wal-Mart is the only real retail winner during the 2008 holiday shopping season, which is presaging more retail bankruptcies in the year ahead, according to C. Britt Beemer, CEO of America’s Research Group (ARG), who issued his 2008 “Winners and Losers” list of retailers.
The “Winners and Losers” (complete list below) are determined by how well they did in retaining Christmas customers from...
Continue Reading »
Target Challenging Wal-Mart with Low-Price Message
Target Inc. seems poised to ratchet up its pricing message to counter consumer perception that rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the place to shop for low prices, writes Dow Jones, citing industry analysts.
A frustrated Target, which has been eclipsed for 12 consecutive weeks by Wal-Mart in same-store sales, has already made changes in its messaging.
Its In-store signs, circulars, and TV campaign...
Continue Reading »
Kmart Harnesses Power of Influential Bloggers
Kmart kick-started a social-networking campaign by giving six well-known bloggers $500 gift certificates to go on a shopping spree in a Kmart store—and then share their experience with their readers.
The bloggers could write anything at all, positive or negative, and all of them clearly disclosed the arrangement in their posts, writes MediaPost.
The purpose was to get people talking about Kmart...
Continue Reading »
Tesco Tool Eco-Screens In-Store Materials
UK retail giant Tesco has developed software that gives the company and its suppliers an unbiased assessment of the materials and products used in stores, writes Retail Week (via Environmental Leader).
To use the “Environmental Design Tool,” employees enter the weight of the materials that make up a particular product. The software then considers factors such as carbon footprint, recycled...
Continue Reading »
Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy Have ‘Best’ Holiday Ads; Emotional Ads Resonate
Asked which retailer has the best holiday TV commercial, consumers ranked Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Macy’s, and Kohl’s as favorites, according to a survey conducted for the NRF’s Retail Advertising and Marketing Association by BIGresearch.
Other retailers on the top 10 list include Sears, Kmart, JCPenney, Old Navy, and Toys “R” Us.
Well-known celebrities, “True Story” campaigns, children’s...
Continue Reading »
Wal-Mart Steps In Where Music Labels Fear to Tread - and Succeeds
With their incredible sales clout, big-box retail might be saving bands that seem past their prime and which the music industry doesn’t quite know what to do with, Ad Age reports.
This past summer, Wal-Mart signed a deal with AC/DC, an 80s metal band that many thought was well past its heyday, that gave it exclusive selling rights to the group’s upcoming album.
Wal-Mart sold a chart-topping...
Continue Reading »