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"Several companies have successfully built cooperative marketing structures online. Companies such as OwnerIQ, for example, enable online retailers like Crutchfield to retarget people who visit the web sites of electronics manufacturers, offering the flatscreen TVs they were just studying - at a discount. When it comes to driving brick-and-mortar sales from online, though, Facebook appears to offer the best solution yet. CPG brands gladly pay for retail circulars to help sell their products, and there's reason to believe they could buy Facebook advertising to drive consumers into retail locations. One company with which we work, ShopLocal, puts a retailer's circular content into a database, including images and all the sale prices and details. In so doing it makes local data portable and extendable, so retailers can build online-only pages of the circular, or utilize QR codes to generate more content than exists in the print world."

Only 1 in 3 shoppers visit brand websites nowadays, compared to 3 in 4 visiting retailer websites.*63% of shoppers visit a retailer's or brand's website to make a purchase compared with just 6% through social media.*The main reason for shoppers wanting to reach out to and connect with a company through social media is to find out something new (32%). They were equally as likely to want brand/retailers to connect with them (23%) as they were to want brand/retailers to sell to them (24%). Interestingly 12% also wanted the brands/retailers to help them have more fun.*Just over a third (38%) of 16-24 year olds admitted to already following brands/retailers on social media. This figure reduces as the age groups climb in number to: 29% of 25-34 year olds, 18% of 35-44 year olds, 8% of 45-54 year olds and respondents aged 55+ years said they weren't following any. 56% of the 55+ age group added that they just didn't see the point in doing it.

Hybris North America President Steven Kramer said: While social media channels can be valuable awareness-generating vehicles for retailers, they are not currently preferred options for consumers when it comes to purchasing, with consumers visiting retailers' social media sites to gather information that they will then oftentimes use to complete a purchase via another channel. Consumers continue to want information when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it, but when it comes to actually making a purchase, social media is not a preferred or trusted choice. This demonstrates the importance of retailers having a cohesive, cross-channel marketing and commerce strategy, with social media just a piece of the overall multichannel puzzle.

Online retailer Amazon and toy company Mattel's HIT Entertainment have partnered together to bring HIT Entertainment's popular children's cartoon Fireman Sam exclusively to the online retailer. Amazon will show episodes of Fireman Sam via streaming and will also have them available for download in Amazon Instant Video, Prime Instant Video, and FreeTime Unlimited. Amazon will also show related merchandise, including toys, ebooks, games, apparel, footwear, lunch boxes and more.

 46 percent of the respondents who shopped online within the past six months first checked out the product at their local retail stores and then made the purchase online walmart led at 41% and target at 25%

How digital changes eyeglasses retail

Walmart says it has launched a microsite called classrooms.walmart.com, which compiles thousands of classroom supply lists, with schools in all 50 states participating. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer says it is the first major retailer to digitize supply lists, which allow shoppers to buy items either online or at their local store. (Local school supply lists will also be available in Walmart stores, it says.) 

Aislelabs launced a marketing automation platform for brick-and-mortar retailers that will help retailers build real-time digital marketing campaigns for in-store deployment and connect with them with their existing online marketing campaigns.

Article discusses how retailers are using mobile devices for their associates to check customers out.  But also includes a stat on retailers being able to scan mobile phones for coupon, 54% say they are ready.

The system works out well for retailers, which have taken a one-two punch from both the popularity of online shopping and the way smart phones enable consumers to comparison shop while in the store, looking at listings from competitors for lower prices before deciding to buy. In the sixth annual survey from National Retail Federation Foundation and American Express Customers' Choice survey, conducted by BIGresearch, Zappos.com and Amazon.com took the top two spots. Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/05/25/mobile-checkout-devices-save-time-encourage-spending/#ixzz1NTlLUiZH

Cool application of contextual data to revamp retail locations from Marks & Spender in the UK.

store for marketers to come learn about advertising in retail via workshops

"Retailers are embracing the convergence of channels - online and bricks-and-mortar stores - reimagining the store and buildi"

"Retailers as disparate as Williams-Sonoma Inc. and Home Depot Inc. have become much better at tailoring e-mails to specific customers rather than the one-size-fits-all blasts that once dominated this type of marketing. Measured by sales per dollar spent, e-mail outperforms social-media advertising three to one, according to the Direct Marketing Association, a trade group founded to provide accurate marketing data. That explains why retailers will send 19 percent more e-mails this year."

"Matching Amazon's prices during the holidays is one thing, but Target today announced it plans to continue the practice on a year-round basis. The extended policy will also apply to competitors other than the internet retailer, of course, but Amazon has become the main threat when it comes to "showrooming," a process where consumers visit physical stores to get a quick peek at products before ultimately placing an order online. Target also plans to match rates from Walmart, Best Buy, and Toys R Us if customers should find the same item priced lower there."

PSFK report on future of retail

Apple's Passbook will become even more useful today, thanks to the availability of new Passbook-integrated coupons from several major retailers, including Macy's, Old Navy, PETCO, Barnes & Noble, Jo-Anne Fabric, ULTA Beauty, Yankee Candle, Michaels, Sears, Sweet Tomatoes, PetSmart, and more. The coupons are being made available from digital couponing giant, Coupons.com, which is now offering Passbook coupons directly on its website.