Toys R Us will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving

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November 15, 2011 News for the retail industry   Top Story    Penney's CEO aims to transform the chain In his first public comment since taking the CEO reins at J.C. Penney last week, Ron Johnson told analysts he plans to "re-imagine" the department store. "I shared with them [employees] that as America's first store, it is time to assert leadership, reclaim our birthright and become America's favorite store," said Johnson. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model) (11/14)      Kellwood CEO to take COO post at J.C. Penney: Michael Kramer will leave the CEO post at Kellwood to become chief operating officer at J.C. Penney, enticed by the chance to work with former Apple colleague and new Penney CEO Ron Johnson. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11/14)      Consumer Insights Your Brand Needs to Know: Latest Trends in Behavioral Advertising Learn what brand managers, advertisers, as well as networks, agencies, and publishers need to know about consumer survey insights into behavioral ad serving, also known as interest-based advertising. Learn more today!   Industry Watch    Toys R Us will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving Toys R Us said Monday it will open its stores at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving in an attempt to get an even earlier jump on the holiday shopping season. Several stores announced plans to open at midnight, and Wal-Mart said last week it has pushed back its opening from midnight to 10 p.m. NorthJersey.com (Hackensack, N.J.) (free registration) (11/15)      Bon-Ton CEO to retire Bon-Ton chief executive Bud Bergren announced his retirement Monday but said he'll stay in the post until the company selects a successor. Bergren, 65, was formerly president and CEO of Elder-Beerman Stores, which Bon-Ton bought in 2003. Women's Wear Daily (subscription required) (11/14)      How Barneys re-energizes itself Barneys CEO Mark Lee says he's a caretaker of the iconic brand and he's focused not on reinventing it but reenergizing it with a mix of technological and creative innovation that relies heavily on the element of surprise. "The overarching goal is to create surprise and speak to our customer in different ways," he said Monday at a retail CEO summit. Luxury Daily (11/15), Women's Wear Daily (subscription required) (11/15)      Wal-Mart's online strategy builds on physical stores Wal-Mart Stores, with online sales about one-tenth of Amazon's, is pushing to build its e-commerce business. The retailer's strategy includes using its brick-and-mortar stores to gain an advantage over Amazon: For example, customers can order online and pick up in store, or they can get free delivery of store orders of more than $45. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (11/14)      Other News Sears, Kmart now sell Barnes & Noble's Nook Chicago Tribune/Dow Jones Newswires (11/14)      Family Dollar to expand to 50 stores in California within a year Los Angeles Times (11/15)      The Mobile- and Social-Enhanced In-store Customer Experience What are shoppers looking for once they enter the store, and how can retailers deliver it? Register for this free webinar to hear fresh thoughts on mobile and social media applications within the store environment and learn innovative techniques that provide a more engaging shopping experience.   Retail trends    October retail sales beat forecasts Retail sales rose 0.5% in October, beating economists' forecasts, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday morning. Sales at consumer electronics stores rose 3.7%, the biggest jump in almost two years, as shoppers snapped up iPads and other gadgets. "Households continue to spend at a pace that can keep the U.S. economy comfortably out of recession," said Eric Green, chief market economist at TD Securities in New York. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model) (11/15), USA TODAY/The Associated Press (11/15), Bloomberg (11/15)      More malls to open at midnight on Thanksgiving Several shopping malls in the St. Louis, Mo., area will join the growing number of merchants with plans to get an earlier start on Black Friday with a midnight opening. "Everybody wants to join the party. It's going to be midnight madness," said NPD Group analyst Marshal Cohen. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11/14)      Maintaining accurate inventory is at the heart of retailing. Perpetual inventory solutions are one means to that end. Download our white paper, Inventory Is the Store: How Mobility Maximizes Return on Investment, to learn how Zebra mobile inventory solutions improve inventory management by meeting your inventory where it lives on the shelves.   2012 Predictions    Which technology should retailers be investing the most in for 2012? View the results of this poll in the NRF SmartBrief Best Of 2011 Send on Dec. 13. E-commerce Mobile retail and marketing Social media In-store technology Are your eCommerce costs predictable and rational? Watch your business grow, not your overhead. Venda offers transparent and predictable pricing with no penalty for success. With inclusive design, site build, project management, code upgrades, and ongoing eBusiness strategy, we provide predictable pricing solutions. Visit to learn more.   Retail Technology    Tools personalize shoppers' hunt for the right looks A growing number of e-commerce sites have found techie ways to help fashionistas find the perfect fit, just the right make-up and purses designed to fit their personalities. Retailers including Macy's and Lane Bryant now have online tools that use answers to a series of questions to help shopper find not only the right fit but also the right designer. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (11/15)      Business Analytics: Optimizing Your Operations Organizations are gathering and storing enormous amounts of information. Read this e-book to see how mid-sized organizations can better use information to drive business decisions to lower costs and improve profit. Discover how you can overcome the barriers midsized business face and improve your competitive position.   Main Street    Small Business Saturday gets bigger this year American Express has once again dubbed the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday, encouraging consumers to support local merchants as they holiday shop. It's a strategy that succeeded last year, when small merchants' sales rose 28% higher than on the same day in 2009, said American Express OPEN senior vice president Mary Ann Fitzmaurice. MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (11/14)        Which retailers are winning with better customer engagement? Aberdeen’s connected store survey shows how top-performing retailers are boosting profits by personalizing the shopping experience, and what other retailers are doing to catch up. This White Paper provides a practical roadmap for what Aberdeen identifies as a fundamental transformation in retailing. Today, it’s yours at no cost! Download your copy now!   Policy & Government Affairs  Retailers support payroll-tax cut extension Economists and businesses are growing worried that Congress won't extend a payroll-tax cut past the Dec. 31 cutoff, a move that could further reduce consumers' spending power. Retailers support extending the tax cut, although they say the positive impact on spending may be less than economists estimate, said NRF senior vice president David French. USA TODAY (11/15)      The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS) Hear experts from SAS, McDonald's and Cornell University as they guide you on how to turn social media data into profit-driving insights. Specifically, the panelists discuss how and why analytics is the key to transforming unstructured text data into useful information about operations, revenue and guest interactions. Click to view webcast. Interested in learning more about advertising with SmartBrief? Click here for detailed industry information and media kits.     Sponsored Content    How To Avoid Mayhem In Your Marketing John Jantsch Beware Of These Restaurant Pitfalls Hannah Howard (Serious Eats) Does Small Business Have A Future In The Middle East? Suzanne Sataline Small Business Snapshot: Embezzlement Common During Holidays Katie Morell   NRF News  Consumer spending on discretionary categories boosts October retail sales Led by discretionary purchases, October retail sales saw impressive growth across the board, an encouraging sign for retailers as the holiday season gets under way. "October retail sales support the assertion that consumers have a distinct desire to spend, bolstering hopes for solid sales growth in November and December," said NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz. "This momentum bodes well for the upcoming holiday season." According to numbers released by NRF today, retail sales increased 0.7% from September and 4.7% over last October. Read more.      NRF SmartStat: Nov. 15, 2011 Annual return fraud will cost retailers an estimated $14.37 billion in 2011, up from $13.66 billion last year. Source: NRF's 2011 Return Fraud survey        Target, Starbucks, 1-800-Flowers.com to attend Retail’s BIG Show More than 22,000 industry professionals flock to New York City each January for Retail's BIG Show and some of retail's most fascinating companies have already secured their spots -- including Best Buy, Coach, Cabela's, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Home Depot and Tractor Supply Co. Who else will be attending retail's biggest event, Jan. 15 to 18 in New York City? View the list of companies.      Learn more about NRF -> Join NRF  |  Govt Relations  |  NRF Events  |  STORES  |  NRF Foundation   Chain Restaurant News  Quickservice campaigns put chefs in starring roles Quickservice chains aim to gain a competitive edge with ad campaigns and public-relations pushes featuring the chefs behind their food. Burger King executive chef John Koch's signature shows up in ads for the chain's Chef's Choice burger, McDonald's chef Dan Coudreaut has done a slew of interviews, and KFC launched a program starring its "chief chicken officer." Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (11/14)      Other News Starbucks raises $1 million in 2 weeks for Create Jobs fund FastCasual.com (11/14)      Position Title Company Name Location Retail Due Diligence Examiner Spain, Price, Reader & Thompson, PC Nationwide, United States Fifth Avenue Club Director Saks Fifth Avenue Bal Harbour, FL VP DMM Boys Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, NJ Fashion Buyer Target Minneapolis, MN Assistant General Manager Merchandise - Hackensack, NJ Store Saks Fifth Avenue Hackensack, NJ Lead Analyst, Point-of-Sale Configuration Total Wine & More Potomac, MD Enterprise Architect Manager Cabela's Sidney, NE Sr. Systems Training and Communications Specialist Bj's Wholesale Club, Inc. Westborough, MA Director, Store Planning and Project Development Ross Stores, Inc. Pleasanton, CA Director of Operations Five Below, Inc. Philadelphia, PA Category Manager - Copy & Print Staples Framingham, MA Director- Marketing Saks Fifth Avenue- Palm Desert, CA Palm Desert, CA Manager, Retail Communications/Training L.L. Bean Freeport, ME Director, International Government Affair The Clorox Company Oakland, CA Talent Development Director Saks Fifth Avenue- Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA Paralegal III The Clorox Company Oakland, CA Click here to view more job listings.   SmartQuote  One cool judgment is worth a dozen hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat." --Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president        This SmartBrief was created for cpgbrokers.data@blogger.com   Subscriber Tools       Update account information | Change e-mail address | Unsubscribe | Print friendly format | Web version | Search past news | Archive | Privacy policy Grab our News Widget Publish your Press Release   Advertise Associate Publisher:  Dena Malouf (202) 407-7838 Download Media Kit Job Board:  Jackie Basso (202) 407-7871       Recent NRF SmartBrief Issues: Monday, November 14, 2011 Friday, November 11, 2011 Thursday, November 10, 2011 Wednesday, November 09, 2011 Tuesday, November 08, 2011     Lead Editor:  Megan Conniff Contributing Editor:  Faye Rapoport     Mailing Address: SmartBrief, Inc.®, 555 11th ST NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004     © 1999-2011 SmartBrief, Inc.® Legal Information