Industry Headlines: December 1
- Mall owners pull plug on cellular tracking, for now: The fire under Footpath has got it pulled for now. (Ars Technica)
- Retailers leaving ‘wrong’ locations: As the high street empties, malls fill up. (The Guardian)
- IPad-Crazed Toddlers Spur Holiday Sales: While little ones normally have their parents in line early for the next toy trend, this year it’s all about the tablet. (Bloomberg)
- Mall Santas Curb Children’s Expectations To Reflect Faltering Economy: On the other hand, many families are hoping to avoid the iPad on the wishlist entirely. (Huffington Post)
- Feds seize 150 counterfeit websites on Cyber Monday: The end of a plague of online counterfeiters might encourage shoppers to buy the real brands, or at least head back to the mall. (Orange County Register)
- Target digs in heels as labour union applies to keep unionized status: Target’s move into Canada is causing no small amount of friction. (The Globe and Mail)
- ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have': Retailers make pitch for self-gifting: The marketing theme this holiday season is a touch of self-indulgence. (MSNBC)
- Gadgets Unchain Cashiers: The distance between browsing and purchasing grows smaller. (Wall Street Journal – tiered subscriptions)
- Sleeping Giant at Walmart Wakes — Its Vast Workforce: Walmart takes steps to turn its customer service workforce into brand ambassadors. (Ad Age – tiered subscription)
- Row over India retail shake-up: India is on the verge of allowing significant foreign investment in retail, and the change is not going over entirely smoothly. (NZ Herald)
- Gift card spending to reach $27.8 billion this holiday season: The most practical of gifts gets even bitter this year. (Retailing Today)
- A mall built exclusively for your home reno needs: This is the second high-concept mall we’ve heard about in as many months. Consider me intrigued. (Globe and Mail)
- Santa gets beard caught in Gardens Mall rappelling stunt: A quick bit of spin saves a holiday mishap from becoming a disaster. (CBS12)
- Almost 2,000 free ‘purse protector’ bells distributed at Port Arcades Shopping Centre: Shoppers will be jingling through the holiday season, and their wallets will be safe.
- Shopping centre cleaners walk off the job: The ongoing labor struggle with Australian cleaners has resulted in aggressively-timed job action. (Herald Sun)
