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MARKETING NEWS Consumers: Printed ads would be missed most .......................................................................... 2

Magazine scan response rates exceed that for direct mail, study finds ...................................... 3

American Media exec: QR codes need consumer education to understand value ..................... 4

Marketers overestimate the power of digital marketing ............................................................. 6

Survey: Mobile devices to get big play over the holidays .......................................................... 8

PUBLISHING NEWS Angie, on why Angie’s List publishes a print magazine ............................................................ 9

Condé Nast aims to have mobile sites for all brands by 2013 .................................................. 10

Musician’s Friend picks its finest for its digital catalog ........................................................... 12

POSTAL NEWS USPS announces new prices and services for 2013.................................................................. 13

Chances of postal reform this year- Slim and none .................................................................. 14

RETAIL NEWS Kantar Retail survey: Dollar General offers least expensive basket price................................ 15

Macy's, Toys'R'Us team up for holidays ................................................................................... 16

OfficeMax expands premium writing tools line ....................................................................... 17

Staples offers big holiday solutions for small business ............................................................ 17

Target opens C9 store in San Francisco .................................................................................... 18

ECONOMIC UPDATE

GDP: 2nd quarter 2012: 1.3 percent

Unemployment Rate: the unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September.

Consumer Confidence: which had declined in August, improved in September. The Index now

stands at 70.3, up from 61.3 in August.

October 15th

, 2012

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MARKETING NEWS

Consumers: Printed Ads Would Be Missed Most

Staff Writer , Print In The Mix . 10/11/2012

The latest Marketing-GAP survey by UK’s fast.MAP asked consumers, "Which of the following forms of advertising would you miss most if it disappeared tomorrow?"

Approximately half of consumers said they would miss printed ads for all products and services if they disappeared. In comparison, around a third said they would miss online advertisements and only between one and two in 10 would miss temearketing calls and door-to-door sales.

The Gap: Marketers, on the other hand, underestimate the number who will miss print ads across all subjects and, with two exceptions, overestimate those who would miss web and one-to-one marketing.

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The Marketing-GAP report from fast.MAP compares marketers’ perceptions with consumer reality. The marketing insight firm surveyed consumers who are both “mail and internet responsive” to marketing offers.

About: Conducted in August 2012. fast.Map partnered with The Institute of Promotional Marketing and The Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM). The research was sponsored by the Royal Mail. The consumer panel comprised 1,140 adults recruited from the 30,000 fast.MAP wholly-owned, closed panel whose profile echoes that of the UK’s population profile in age and gender. Only people who are both mail and internet responsive were selected for the panel. The marketers panel comprised 353 marketers, drawn from the fast.MAP marketing professionals' panel and the IPM and IDM’s membership.

Magazine Scan Response Rates Exceed that for Direct Mail, Study Finds

Staff Writer , Printing Impressions . 10/8/2012

New evidence shows that action codes (such as QR codes, Microsoft Tags and digital watermarks) in magazines deliver better response rates than traditional forms of direct marketing, according to a report by Nellymoser Inc., a mobile marketing and technology services company. Based on Companion App campaigns delivered by Nellymoser over the past 12 months, the median response rate using mobile action codes ranged from 4.5 to 5.9 percent. The average, weighted by circulation, was 6.4 percent.

Companion App scan rates are greater than the response rates for other types of printed marketing, as reported by the Direct Marketing Association in the “2012 Response Rate

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Report.” Direct mail had a 4.4 percent response rate overall and catalogs had a 4.3 percent rate. Email and paid search had response rates of less than 1 percent.

Until now, the major barrier in obtaining hard numbers for the response rates of mobile action codes in magazines was that the applications used to scan codes and the codes themselves were produced by different entities.

The clients in this study used Nellymoser to produce both the Companion App with its universal scanner and the mobile experience that is delivered to the reader. Because Nellymoser manages the app and the scanned experience, it has a unique opportunity to measure campaigns from scan through execution. These two sets of data can now be correlated, providing new insight into the audience’s behavior and the success of campaigns.

The response rates measured across all magazines and adds ranged from 0.7 percent to 26.8 percent. The average, weighted by circulation and removing the high and lowest scores, was 6.4 percent. The app remained open about 10 minutes for each visit. During those 10 minutes, the user viewed nearly 19 mobile pages—an average of about 30 seconds per page. This suggests that users were actively interacting with the magazine while using the app. Visitors on average made return visits 1.4 additional times for additional engagement (an average of 2.4 visits).

“When done well, mobile action codes can turn a magazine advertising campaign into a direct marketing tool with a higher than average response rate,” asserted Roger Matus, executive vice president of Nellymoser, Inc. “It ought to be considered whenever a direct response campaign is being used."

American Media exec: QR codes need consumer education to understand value

Lauren Johnson , Mobile Marketer . 10/12/2012

An American Media executive at the Media Tech Summit 2012 conference said that there needs to be more consumer education with mobile bar codes in order to take off.

During the “Developing Robust Mobile Products – Destiny or Distraction” session, executives from American Media and Twitter discussed how to create both mobile-first and digital products. The session was moderated by Neil Fox, chief innovation officer at Ness Technologies.

“We do them – we do QR code promotions,” said Joe Bilman, chief digital officer at American Media, New York.

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“I think there is still a lot of education left for consumers to understand the value of picking up their phone, using their camera, getting the picture of the QR code, translating that to a URL destination to do something rather than just typing in the URL string,” he said.

“But I do think over time – maybe it’s not QR codes or NFC – maybe it’s another technology, but there will be some technology that can move beyond this conditional phase to help consumers connect to things in the physical world.”

Publish on mobile

There is an ongoing debate between applications and mobile sites.

However, smaller brands can start with a mobile Web site to drive value for consumers. Once there, they can aggregate their audience and see if there is room for an app.

Mobile Web can also be harder to monetize though by injecting ads that are not disruptive into the screen.

Banner ads, particularly on a smartphone, are difficult to get consumers to tap on and sometimes see little or no ROI, per Mr. Biman. Tablets on the other hand present more opportunities because of the larger screen size.

American Media takes a two-prong strategy with apps – either sponsored apps that an advertiser pays the company to develop or paid apps for consumers. The executive said that the company does more on the sponsored app side.

Mobile-first mentality

Martin Ringlein, design manager at Twitter, San Francisco, said that one of the key differentiators to Twitter’s success in social media compared to some of its competitors is that the company has had a mobile-first mentality from the get-go.

For example, the company has the same desktop and mobile monetization strategy, which the executive described as being similar to Google’s AdWords.

Advertisers can send promoted tweets that are sponsored but appear in a user’s news feed. Advertisers can also see information about users, such as where they checked-in and what they are tweeting about.

As consumers continue to rely on multiple devices, there is some question about what constitutes a mobile device. For example, tablets often replace televisions and laptops for some consumers. Some experts argue that tablets in these cases are not mobile devices since users are stationary.

Marketers constantly debate to either invest in apps or mobile sites.

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While a mobile Web site is a stepping stone and at least gives users a better browsing experience, if the company has the resources they should look at native apps because they offer quicker load times and is a more pleasurable experience, including push notifications and access to a mobile device’s built-in camera.

Additionally, some marketers only think about screen size when getting into mobile. However, it is also important to look at how consumers are using their devices to consume content.

“The context of mobile is different – the most important thing that we have talked about with mobile is situational context,” Mr. Ringlein said.

“Our advertising strategies need to be in line with that context,” he said.

Marketers Overestimate The Power of Digital Marketing Staff Writer , Print In The Mix . 10/11/2012

Most consumers are not keen to new forms of direct marketing, such as mobile and social media, and would rather communicate with brands through established direct mail and email channels, a new study finds.

The latest Marketing-GAP report by UK’s fast.MAP compares marketers’ perceptions with consumer reality. The marketing insight firm surveyed 1,140 UK consumers who are both “mail and internet responsive” to marketing offers.

According to Marketing-GAP, fewer than 2% of people are “happy” to get marketing messages via text and social media. It states marketers continue to “massively overestimate” the popularity of these channels.

Additiional direct mail-related findings of the eighth annual survey:

Eight out of 10 open direct mail. The percentage of consumers surveyed who open direct mail is 80%, a little above 2010 levels. A third (34%) state they open all direct mail, 45% only open messages from companies they use and 20% say they don’t open direct mailings.

Marketers underestimate the number of people who open mail. This year, marketers thought 24% of households would open all mail --- 8% less than what consumers reported.

The top reasons consumers open their direct mail: it is from a known company/brand (55%), it is personalized (51%) and an interest in the product or service being promoted (44%). Marketers correctly identified the top five mail-opening criteria, but significantly underestimate the importance of a personal address while over-estimating

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the importance of criteria such as the package, its design, the look of the envelope and color.

SMS and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, doubled in popularity over the past year--from 1% to 2%--as a means to receive marketing messages. Regardless, these numbers remain proportionally low compared to traditional means. While approximately 3 in 10 people “are happy to receive” marketing information by mail and email, overall fewer than 1 in 50 welcome contacts via the newer digital media, such as SMS and social media.

One in 5 throw away unopened direct mailings. Top reasons stated: o 55% are not interested in the product

o Not interested in the company (49%)

o Object to being marketed to (44%).

In the past year, there has been a leap, from 23% to 32%, in those who do not open mail not addressed to them. Design and color was only noted by 2% and 4%, respectively, as a reason for not opening a marketing piece.

When asked why consumers throw away unopened direct mailings, marketers overestimate by more than 300% the importance of lack of time (40% v. 11% as reported by consumers surveyed), by 600% the design; (17% v. 2%) and by 300% the envelope’s color (13% v. 4%). Marketers estimations of two of the three most important reasons for disposal – “no interest in product” and “object to being sent marketing” – are more accurate, within 6% and 3% respectively.

The top mailings immediately opened: grocery stores (40%), travel/holiday (24%), credit card offers (23%).

The report states: "Marketers again and again prove themselves to be deaf to consumer demands and preferences by overestimating, frequently by hundreds of per cent, people’s desire to be contacted via mobile call, social media and Twitter. In fact, a sure way to alienate customers and prospects is to only provide information and offers via these routes. Only a minority can imagine a purely virtual retail world where real shops no longer exist and most think such a world would be a worse place.”

About: Conducted in August 2012. fast.Map partnered with The Institute of Promotional Marketing and The Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM). The research was sponsored by the Royal Mail. The consumer panel comprised 1,140 adults recruited from the 30,000 fast.MAP wholly-owned, closed panel whose profile echoes that of the UK’s population profile in age and gender. Only people who are both mail and internet responsive were selected for the panel. The marketers panel comprised 353 marketers, drawn from the fast.MAP marketing professionals' panel and the IPM and IDM’s membership.

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Survey: Mobile devices to get big play over the holidays

Katherine Field Boccaccio , Chain Store Age . 10/11/2012

Research results released Wednesday by multichannel commerce solution-provider MarketLive found that mobile will be used heavily for researching deals, making purchases and connecting with merchants across channels this holiday season.

According to the annual "Mindset of a Multi-Channel Shopper" survey, in 2012, customers will spend about the same amount on holiday gifts as last year—but a greater share of that spending will be online.

Of the more than 1,000 shoppers surveyed, 33% said they will do 'All' or 'Most' of their shopping on the Internet this holiday season. That's a significant jump from last year's 25%.

The survey revealed that 16% of consumers plan to do 'All' or 'Most' of their shopping via a smartphone or tablet this holiday season — that's up from just 3% who planned to shop via mobile device last year. And 29% (up from 12% in 2011) said they'll use their mobile phone to research gifts prior to a store visit. Also, 43% of the shoppers surveyed said they are 'Very' or 'Somewhat' likely to use their mobile devices for redeeming coupons when making an in-store purchase.

When asked about the most important factors in choosing merchants to shop online this season, 'Good Value' was number one with 87% of the shoppers saying that value was 'Most' or 'Somewhat' important. Price came in second, with 85%.

Across the board, shoppers placed more importance on the reasons they shop online than they did last year. Saving money, locating hard-to-find products, and saving time ranked as the most important reasons for shopping online for the majority of shoppers. However, shoppers are also placing more importance than ever on:

Online peer recommendations/reviews (45% of shoppers said these are 'Very' or 'Somewhat Important' this year as opposed to 34% last year) and finding more personalized gifts (50% of shoppers said this was a 'Very' or 'Somewhat Important' reason for buying online, versus only 41% last year).

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PUBLISHING NEWS

Angie, On Why Angie’s List Publishes a Print Magazine

Josh Gordon , Folio . 10/11/2012

Angie Hicks Bowman, co-founder of the home service rating company that carries her name, is one of the smartest marketers I have ever interviewed. She started her company as "Columbus Neighbors," personally going door to door in Columbus, Ohio to sign up members and collect ratings on local contractors. After her first year of door knocking, her company had 1,000 members. Today, that number is over 1.5 million paid members.

When my wife Lynn became an Angie’s List member, a monthly print magazine started showing up at our Brooklyn brownstone. I was intrigued. In a time when many marketers are scaling back print magazine marketing investment to favor digital media, here was a prominent digital content company publishing a print magazine. Retro marketing? Not on your life. In an interview with Angie I found her rationale for using print magazines so rooted in common sense I wondered why no one had thought of explaining it her way before.

When I asked Angie why she is sticking with print magazines she said, “I think people interact with print publications differently than they do with online content. Angie’s List is essentially a problem solving service. When people say, “Oh, I need a plumber” they come to us. But our print magazine allows us to interact with members when they are not in need of a plumber.” Angie added that her magazine helps differentiate her company in the crowded online market: “It’s one of the neat differentiators about us. We are not only collecting all of this content but actually packaging it into this kind of “news you can use format.”

In addition, Angie said her print magazine helps drive incremental activity by educating members: “Maybe someone had not thought about buying a geo thermal heating and cooling system, but read an article about it in Angie’s List magazine. That person may not have gone on our website to read the article but read it in our magazine, and it created incremental interest.”

The magazine also serves as a way to introduce new members, said Angie. “Angie’s List members are busy people, and getting the magazine delivered to them can be a very easy, great way to kind of break in.” She continues, “I get tons of e-mails but on Saturday I might sit down to read a magazine at home, where I don’t want to be sitting in front of my computer. Our members are very passionate about our magazine and a lot of consumers leave it sitting out on their coffee table.” And members love the magazine. Angie recalls, “I remember getting a call from a member who had a hospital stay during which her daughter

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came in, cleaned her house, and threw away her Angie’s List magazine collection. She was so upset she called and asked if we could send her a whole new set.”

For those of us marketing print products in an ever more digital world, for my money, Angie’s best wisdom came when she described how magazines keep her customers engaged even “when they are not in need of a plumber.” As more marketers abandon print budgets to fund digital initiatives, her comment reminds us of print’s unique marketing value, which is not easily duplicated online. When a print magazine arrives in a home or office it can be read in any physical location, and does not compete for online time with other websites.

In addition, website content is often “purpose driven”—designed for users to choose their own sequence of information as they search for content and solutions to problems. The magazine experience is different, because an editor selects the sequence of content within an area of interest. The magazine read may offer fewer content options, but sometimes it’s really nice to have someone who really knows the neighborhood be the tour guide. Like many websites, Angie’s List is a problem solving service, so a print magazine is the perfect complement.

Conde Nast aims to have mobile sites for all brands by 2013

Lauren Johnson , Mobile Marketer . 10/8/2012

A Condé Nast executive at the Netbiscuits World 2012 conference said as it sees more users consuming content on mobile devices, the publisher's goal is to have mobile sites for all of its brands by the end of 2013.

Executives from Time Inc., Condé Nast and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spoke about the challenges that mobile presents during the “A Conversation with Publishers” session. The panel was moderated by Josh Sternberg, publishing reporter at Digiday, New York.

“The tablet gives us a bit of a catalyst with some of our content,” said Luan Pham, executive director of integrated marketing at Condé Nast’s Golf Digest, New York.

“Mobile is still circling around — there are some great learnings that we are seeing with brands in the building, and our goal by the end of 2013 is having all of our brands with an optimized site,” he said.

Pick your titles

When it comes to approaching mobile from the top down, Mr. Pham said that Condé Nast likes to test technologies on specific brands, leverage the findings and then apply the learnings to all titles.

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For example, in 2009 Condé Nast began incorporating Microsoft Tags into magazine pages. Based on the target demographics of publications such as Golf Digest, the company thought that they might be taking a long shot with the technology, but still wanted to test how readers would respond. Golf Digest was the first pilot from Condé Nast with Microsoft Tags.

Condé Nast focuses its tablet initiatives on the user experience versus porting a PDF version of the magazine into an app, per Mr. Pham.

Twenty-five percent of Condé Nast’s Web page views are happening on mobile devices. Additionally, across all of Condé Nast’s brands, mobile traffic has increased about 700 percent in the last three years.

Mobile can also be used with location and context to make content more relevant for users. For instance, Golf Digest recently rolled out an app that incorporated customized content for users based on how they played a round of golf. Depending how the user plays, the app creates a mini magazine of content and instructions for users to improve their game.

Additionally, the exec said he believes there will be a shift from small banner ads to more interstitial and video ads that take over the screen but is not intrusive to diminish the user experience.

Breaking news

When it comes to breaking news, consumers are often going to their mobile devices first, according to Laurel Lane, manager of digital media revenue for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh.

With consumers still using search to quickly find information, mobile Web in particular plays a large role in how consumers get news information.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has apps for iOS, Android and Nook devices. However, Ms. Lane said that the company sees a die down in downloads unless the company keeps a constant presence on them.

More than snackable content

With consumers relying on their mobile devices more as a source for reading news, users are not necessarily only interested in short, snackable content.

“I think one of the challenges is being able to understand how an audience interacts with your content on various different platforms and then being able to take that data and program for a specific platform,” said Solomon Masch, director of mobile sales and strategy at Time Inc., New York.

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For example, Time Inc.’s People recently hired a mobile editor to program and develop mobile-specific content. Additionally, the average user session spent on Time Inc.'s brands is eight minutes, showing a need for long-form content on mobile.

Mobile strategies differ for Time Inc.’s 21 titles depending on what works and does not work.

As consumers shift to mobile platforms, advertising opportunities across both smartphones and tablets have grown. However, monetization is continuously an issue for both publishers and advertisers.

“I think it is going to continue to grow, but in order for brands to spend the big dollars they need to get their learnings there first,” Mr. Masch said.

Musician’s Friend picks its finest for its digital catalog

Kevin Woodward , Internet Retailer . 10/12/2012

Musicians considering a purchase of a premium guitar have another option to discover their next prized instrument with the launch this week of the Musician's Friend interactive catalog.

Developed with help from digital catalog developer Zmags, the Musician's Friend Private Reserve Interactive Catalog showcases premium and collectible instruments. The first issue focuses on guitars.

Consumers using a desktop or tablet browser tap a link on MusiciansFriend.com to open the catalog, which contains high-resolution images of available instruments and information about the instrument's history.

The catalog also incorporates zoomable 360-degree product views, branded video and audio clips of the instruments in action. Consumers also can download images of products to use as desktop backgrounds. When they are ready to buy, shoppers can click a shopping bag icon which takes them to the retailer’s e-commerce site to complete their purchase.

"Shoppers want to engage on demand, across multiple channels and devices," says Ryan Villiers, director of enterprise brand experience at Musician's Friend. "The advanced Zmags platform enabled us to emulate the feeling our customers could previous only get while playing an instrument for themselves. Most of all, we wanted guitar lovers to dive into the catalog and have some fun."

Consumers also can access the catalog via the Musician's Friend Facebook page.

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Zmags has worked with other retailers including PartyLite, a merchant that specializes in candles, home fragrances and décor, to create digial magazines. Musician's Friend is No. 44 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

POSTAL NEWS

USPS Announces New Prices and Services for 2013

Press Release , Whattheythink.com . 10/12/2012

Beginning early next year, the Postal Service will introduce a First-Class Mail Global Forever Stamp. The new stamp will allow customers to mail letters anywhere in the world for one set price of $1.10, and is among new mailing and shipping services filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission today.

The price for First-Class Mail single-piece letters will increase by just a penny when prices change in Jan. The new 46 cent Forever stamps will allow customers to mail letters to any location in the United States. Forever stamps are always good for mailing a one-ounce letter anytime in the future regardless of price changes.

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 27, 2013 include:

Letters (1oz.) - 1-cent increase to 46 cents Letters additional ounces - unchanged at 20 cents Letters to all international destinations (1oz.) - $1.10 Postcards - 1-cent increase to 33 cents

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will review the prices before they become effective Jan. 27, 2013. Today's Shipping and Mailing price filings will be available on the PRC website at www.prc.gov and the new Mailing Service prices will also be available at http://pe.usps.com.

Shipping Services

Several new Shipping Services products will be available in January. Free tracking will be offered to all competitive packages, including retail Priority Mail and Parcel Post (recently renamed Standard Post).

Also new, customers shipping Critical Mail letters and flats will now have the option of receiving a signature upon delivery as part of the service offering.

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A large variety of flat-rate boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail, including the padded and legal-sized flat rate envelopes will continue to be offered by the Postal Service.

New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:

Small box - $5.80 Medium box - $12.35 Large box - $16.85 Large APO/FPO box - $14.85 Regular envelope - $5.60 Legal envelope - $5.75 Padded envelope - $5.95

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

Chances of Postal Reform This Year: Slim and None Staff Writer , Dead Tree Edition . 10/12/2012

The chances for meaningful postal reform this year are slim if neither political party gets a mandate from Congressional elections – and none if one party wins control of both houses.

That’s the consensus of several postal experts who have spoken or written recently about the status of postal legislation.

“If the Republicans get a majority in the Senate and hold their majority in the House, nothing will happen until 2013,” Jim O’Brien, Vice President, Distribution & Postal Affairs for Time Inc., told a mailers' focus group meeting last week. “If the Democrats hold the Senate majority and the Republicans hold the House, MAYBE something could happen in the lame duck session. If the Dems win the House and Senate, nothing will happen until 2013.”

During the post-election lame-duck session, the House is likely to approve postal legislation “that moves closer to the Senate version,” Ken Garner and Benjamin Cooper predicted a few days ago at the huge GraphExpo trade show for the printing industry. (If you’re wondering why postal issues are being discussed at a printing event, Garner, President/CEO, Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association, and Cooper, a prominent postal lobbyist, offered this factoid,: “Over one half of all print [in the U.S.] is created for mail distribution.”)

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Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, has indicated he will introduce a “lite” version of the postal bill he guided through his committee early this year. Some have likened the original Issa plan to a Chapter 11-style restructuring of the U.S. Postal Service.

Gene Del Polito, President of the Association for Postal Commerce, agrees with Garner and Cooper that Issa’s revised proposal is likely to include some kind of relief on prepayment of retiree health benefits, as well as elimination of Saturday delivery. But “heaven only knows” whether the House and Senate will agree to any postal legislation this year.

“And if your business really depends on the provision of cost-efficient and reliable postal services, you'd better let heaven know what you need. Maybe somebody there will be listening.”

“The odds point to a 2013 bill,” O’Brien said. “Remember, Congress will not act in the absence of a crisis. The crisis SHOULD arrive in the fall of 2013 when the USPS runs out of cash.”

Garner and Cooper agree, and they fear that such a cash crisis would erode customers’ confidence in the Postal Service. It will be no easier for Congress to pass a long-term solution in 2013 than it is in 2012, they said. And no one seems to be betting that Congress will come up with a real solution next year.

“I believe if a postal bill is enacted that fails to address the imbalance between postal costs and revenues, the bill may provide a respite for some of the Postal Service's woes but there won't be a cure,” Del Polito wrote. “Within two years after enactment, there will be a postal reform redux. We'll get the same unsatisfying outcome we've gotten from the 2006 act.”

RETAIL NEWS

Kantar Retail survey: Dollar General offers least expensive basket price Marianne Wilson , Chain Store Age . 10/8/2012

Dollar General is the overall basket price leader delivering a substantial savings to value shoppers, according to Kantar Retail’s second annual opening price point (OPP) survey. Walgreens, for the second year, had the most expensive total basket, driven by sharply higher edible and non-edible grocery baskets

The Kantar survey measures how selected retailers are meeting the cross-category needs of the low-income shopper who is seeking the lowest prices to fulfill basket requirements.

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Kantar selected twenty categories across the edible grocery, non-edible grocery, and HBA segments. The study was expanded this year to include Dollar General along with the same six retailers surveyed in 2011, including Walmart, Stop & Shop, Family Dollar, Aldi, Target and Walgreens. Retailers included in the survey are located in the Northeast U.S.

Highlights of this study include:

•Dollar General offered an 18% overall basket savings driven by lower OPPs in its edible and non-edible baskets representing a substantial savings to the value shopper.

•Walmart offered the second cheapest overall basket, though 18% higher than the OPP basket at Dollar General.

“Dollar General’s basket price leadership at the OPP level is impressive,” said Leon Nicholas, Kantar Retail senior VP and contributor to the study. “Though Walmart had a less expensive HBA basket, the retailer’s assertion of overall basket price leadership to the value-focused shopper on an everyday basis was not established by our study.”

According to Nicholas, the results of the study suggest that temporary price cuts to create the perception of a price advantage, will not win the battle for the value shopper’s dollar. Instead, aggressive, everyday pricing across categories will be a requirement to overtake Dollar General’s advantage at the opening price point, he said.

Macy's, Toys'R'Us team up for holidays

Gail Hoffer , Retailing Today . 10/11/2012

Macy’s and Toys"R"Us -- likely the two retailers most associated with Christmas -- have joined together for a unique retail partnership.

The companies have signed an agreement that will bring Toys“R”Us Express-branded departments in 24 Macy’s stores in major markets nationwide during this year’s holiday selling season. The departments, which will operate on a leased basis, will average approximately 1,500 sq. ft. (with some smaller and some larger). They will be open for a period of about three months – roughly from Oct. 15 to Jan. 15, 2013. Based on a number of factors, this pop-up toy shop concept could be expanded in the future, the companies said.

According to a press release, the departments will offer a select assortment of the most popular items from Toys“R”Us, including products featured on the 2012 Toys“R”Us Holiday Hot Toy list, perennial favorites such as dolls, action figures and puzzles, and much more.

“Macy’s is a premier holiday shopping destination, and many of our customers have toys on their gift-giving lists. By partnering with Toys“R”Us, the authority in the toy space, we can

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offer a comprehensive toy assortment and one-stop shopping in this largest gift-giving time of the year,” said Jeff Gennette, Macy’s chief merchandising officer.

“Macy’s and Toys“R”Us are both synonymous with gift-giving during the holiday season, and we are delighted to partner with a best-in-class retailer like Macy’s to extend our brand at some of the greatest shopping locations around the country,” said Richard Barry, EVP, chief merchandising officer Toys“R”Us, Inc.

OfficeMax expands premium writing tools line

Staff Writer , Retailing Today . 10/12/2012

OfficeMax has launched a new line of pens under its TUL brand.

"Over the past eight years, TUL has become the preferred premium brand of writing instruments and desk accessories for many of our customers because of the great design, performance and value it provides," said Ronald Lalla, EVP and chief merchandising officer at OfficeMax. "Our new collection of TUL pens provides both consumers and business customers with multiple designs that deliver exceptional writing experiences time and time again."

The new pens are now available in OfficeMax stores nationwide and at OfficeMax.com in single-and multi-packs. Suggested retail prices range from $1.99 (single pens) to $20.99 (12-pack).

TUL is a premium brand of writing instruments and desk accessories launched by OfficeMax in 2006. The company's inaugural private brand, TUL features a selection of pens, pencils, markers, highlighters and desk accessories, including staplers, scissors and tape dispensers.

Staples offers big holiday solutions for small business

Staff Writer , Retailing Today . 10/11/2012

Staples is making it easier for small businesses and consumers to get ready for the holiday season with its online holiday center.

According to the company, this year's Staples Holiday Center includes an expanded product assortment with more gift ideas than ever as well as recipes and homemade crafts.

“With the Staples Holiday Center, small businesses now have a place where they can go to get an early start on holiday preparations,” said Steve Bussberg, SVP Staples.com. “Whether it’s planning how to market holiday promotions to customers, or getting all the supplies for

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the office party, businesses now have one place to turn to make the holidays easy. Staples is launching its Holiday Center earlier than ever, with more products than ever.”

New this year to Staples is the ability to order seasonal décor online, including live Christmas trees, shipped directly. For those businesses that prefer to create their own decorations, Staples offers directions on making holiday craft items.

Target opens C9 store in San Francisco Marianne Wilson , Chain Store Age . 10/12/2012

Target Corp. opened a new retail concept, called C9 Active Apparel, in San Francisco, Women’s Wear Daily and other media outlets reported.

The 3,000-sq.-ft. store is devoted to the C9 by Champion activewear brand, which was launched by Target in 2004. It is located in Westfield’s Metreon center, which also houses a CityTarget store.

The new store has an industrial feel, with concrete flooring and exposed ceiling, according to the reports, with no Target identifying-logo or signage.