Google may be serious about launching its own retail stores or just feinting in that direction, but one thing is clear: the digital giant isn't through trying to find new areas of the online universe to dominate.

Target No. 1 may well be automotive retailing. There's been lots of attention lately to Google's other significant venture having to do with automobiles—"self-driving" cars—but Google seems far more likely to make big strides in the car-selling process online more quickly than it does in programming your car to drive you to work.

Google is poised to expand its fledlging online car-shopping service to dealers throughout California and also to enter more states, Automotive News reported. Dealers in the San Francisco Bay area have tested the service since last summer; consumers can browse dealers' inventory and check vehicle prices without leaving Google search pages, the magazine reported.

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Neiman Marcus and Target join brands for unusual Christmas collaboration: 50 limited-edition American designer items, plus $1M donation to the CFDA.

Starbucks rolls out low-cal Refreshers drinks.

Marks & Spencer fires clothing head following worst sales in three years.

American Airlines and U.S. Airways keep dancing around a merger.

Apple removes green electronics certification from products.

Chase launches Chase Liquid reloadable card.

Coca-Cola takes stake in Mexican juice company Jugos del Valle.

Conde Nast confirms London location of namesake fashion college.

DirecTV could drop 26 Viacom channels in dispute.

Dodge places major ad push behind new Dart.Continue reading...

It's tough going these days for electrified vehicles -- despite rising gas prices. The Chevrolet Volt has had its unique struggles; Nissan Leaf is being "re-contented" to boost the appeal of aspects of the car other than electrification; and a new study by R.L. Polk says that hybrid buyers simply aren't warming up to the technology: hybrid repurchase rates now are flat with three years ago.

But piercing the gloom around hybrids and EVs is one nameplate and one brand: Prius.

Toyota stole a march on hybridization over a decade ago with the original Prius, and finally last year began extending the brand family with vehicles larger (Prius v) and smaller (Prius c) than the original. Those moves -- plus the restoration of "normal" Prius production nowadays compared with the supply constraints of last year -- have greatly enhanced Prius's reign as king of American hybrids. Continue reading...

One of the first things marketers learn (or should learn) in business school is that it's far cheaper to keep a customer than gain a new customer — just ask AT&T, Verizon or any cable/satellite operator about their subscriber acquisition costs and retention marketing strategies for an earful on that topic.

That's why recent results of separate surveys have two of branding's rockstars pleased as pie. 

They're sleek. They're iconically brushed matte silver. And they both begin with the letter "A" — the grade they're getting from some very satisfied customers.Continue reading...

Apple store employee moves to unionize.

Chipotle expansion plans hit by rising costs.

Citi defends delay in disclosing hacking.

Dell gives precedence to Chinese market for tablet roll-out.

Dole blitzes US cities to pump up banana sales.

Edmunds.com to launch Groupon-type channel for cars.

Ford is ordered to pay $2 billion to dealers in old pricing dispute.Continue reading...

Maybe the next online market to take off will be car-buying websites. Already, such sites as Edmunds.com and AutoTrader.com make it easy to determine used and new car prices and locate local deals.

TrueCar, an online provider of price information that reports what others actually paid for the identically equipped new car over the last 30 days, works with a nationwide network of some 5,000 Certified Dealers who provide competitive pricing for membership and service organizations.

Now TrueCar is taking part in a partnership with GR Match, an affiliate of direct marketing giant Guthy-Renker, who will make a significant equity investment in TrueCar.Continue reading...

American consumers returned to showrooms in force during March, driving overall sales to their best levels since last summer’s peak around Cash for Clunkers. The spring surge brought especially good news for Toyota, whose sales rose 41 percent during the month even after its brand was badly battered earlier in the first quarter.

Automakers sold a total of 1.07 million vehicles in the United States last month, the highest absolute number of sales since the federal government’s massive buyback of late-model used cars sent sales skyrocketing last August. Last month’s number also was 25 percent ahead of March, 2009.

Toyota’s revival came on the back of its unprecedentedly large incentive program featuring zero-percent-interest loans on a wide variety of models in a bid to get consumers back into showrooms after all the bad publicity about its safety recalls in January and February.Continue reading...

This year may be marked by a turnaround in US automotive sales, which would be welcome enough after a two-year slide because of fuel-price shocks and economic woes. But for some brands in the American market, 2010 may become even more notable as the year that finally saw significant changes in market share.

New evidence is surfacing all the time that there’s more opportunity available for ambitious brands than there has been in quite some time. The automotive group of Jumpstart, a firm owned by Hachette-Filipacchi, for instance, has said that Ford and Chevrolet stand to gain significantly from Toyota’s problems as shoppers remove the troubled Japanese brand from their consideration set and that it may take Toyota two or three years to recover.

Ford clearly has been one of the biggest market-share winners lately as not only Toyota but also old rivals Chevrolet and Chrysler have been dealing with huge retrenchments by their parent companies. Hyundai also has gained partly at Toyota’s expense.Continue reading...