For marketers these days, it's all about digital and taking advantage of all it has to offer. Adidas, though, is pulling its wares off two of the web's major e-commerce hubs — Amazon and eBay — because it's convinced such sites are cheapening its image and damaging its brand value. According to the UK's Marketing Week, the ban goes into effect in January and will extend to its Reebok brand.

Adidas, on a high coming out of Euro 2012 and heading into the Olympics, isn't the only major brand that's pulling back on e-commerce sites — Nike and Asics are also restricting Internet sales, a move that has drawn the attention of German competition authorities. "Adidas isn't the first, and they're definitely not going to be the last to do what they did," said Wes Sheperd, CEO of Channel IQ, an online services provider catering to manufacturers, distributors and retailers, according to AuctionBytes.com. "There's a storm brewing here."Continue reading...

As Pinterest starts to overtake Twitter and other websites for referral traffic, it's a tough act to follow. But The Fancy is ready to give it a try.

Geared at fans of great design who already love to suggest new brands and products to their social networks, Mark Zuckerberg and Kanye West are fans of The Fancy, and backers include Ashton Kutcher and PPR head François-Henri Pinault.

But unlike Pinterest, it's not so much about visual scrapbooking as is about generating sales of recommended products, turning users into affiliates. And unlike Klout, no credit is received for influence, only for actual purchase, rewarding users for their taste and influence. It's powering more than $10,000 in sales per day. Modest, but it's a start for a brand that describes itself as “part store, blog, magazine, and wishlist.”Continue reading...

Domino's Pizza is thanking its U.S. digital customers for passing the $1 billion mark in digital sales between April 2011 to April 2012 — that's one billion dollars in digital sales in one year, folks — with 50% off all pizzas ordered online at menu price. The deal is available through Dominos.com and mobile.dominos.com, and iPhone and Android apps through Sunday, June 17 (conveniently, also Father's Day).

"We love our online customers, and have learned so much from them during the past five years about how we can continue to deliver the best online ordering experience in the industry," said Russell Weiner, Domino's CMO, in a press release. "Reaching $1 billion in online sales during a one year time period is a major milestone, and we hope offering this amazing deal for an entire week lets our fans and customers know how much we appreciate them."Continue reading...

Home delivery of groceries is a business that at one time seemed to have so much promise, but the industry never seems to have lived up to the possibilities. One of the few hardy survivors has been Peapod.

The Chicago-based company's innovative mobile campaign shows why Peapod has been able to fight through years of disappointment about its business and remain vital. Peapod is testing a "virtual grocery store" concept in Chicago. Royal Ahold, the Dutch retailing giant, owns Peapod via its Ahold USA division, and is no doubt aware of Tesco's virtual subway store test in South Korea.

In its second market test of virtual retail following Philadelphia, Peapod is now bringing grocery "shelves" via QR-enabled signage to Chicago commuters. The e-grocer wrapped walls of the highly-trafficked State and Lake Station tunnel with larger-than-life signage and depictions of grocery products, offering a virtual shopping experience via smartphone.Continue reading...

American Greetings, the second largest greeting card company in the U.S. behind Hallmark, has bought the debts of struggling Clinton Cards, the largest card retailer in the UK, in an action akin to a hostile corporate takeover. The unusual move essentially puts American Greetings in control of Clinton's fate and is expected to force the retailer into administration, the British form of bankruptcy.

American Greetings is the biggest supplier to Clinton Cards, which operates 628 Clinton Cards stores and 139 "Birthdays" outlets throughout the UK, employing over 8,000 people, whose jobs could now be at risk. Clinton was unable to repay a 35 million pound loan (more than $56 million) to its banks so the firm "had no option but to agree to a proposal by the new owner of the debt," reports Reuters.

The American invasion clearly took the British retailer and many industry observers by surprise.Continue reading...

Kids and Young Adult (YA) e-book sales in the U.S. grew by triple digits in February, reports the Association of American Publishers, as compared to relatively flat adult e-book sales figures. The total for e-book sales in the category is close to 25 million sold in January 2012.

The key contributing factor: adults are devouring YA e-books like The Hunger Games trilogy, and — still — Harry Potter. The Hunger Games franchise held the top three spots for the month of January on both the physical bestseller list and the Kindle paid bestseller list, appearing on USA Today’s bestseller list and taking first place for Amazon and Kindle sales. With the March release of the movie, stats on e-book sales to be released next month could be record-breaking.

On the Pottermore e-hub, which was announced last June, Harry Potter e-book sales reached close to 525,000 in the first month, totaling about $4.8 million. The Pottermore e-bookstore launched on March 27 as the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks followed by the full Potter digi-verse on April 14.Continue reading...

Sears is testing local, personalized e-commerce with the launch of SearsLocalAd.com, which debuts today in Pittsburgh and a handful of other U.S. test markets. The details:Continue reading...

More and more, big bricks-and-mortar retailers have their backs to the wall. In the case of Best Buy, the shakeup has rattled the executive suite. But in the case of Target, the seachange has prompted retaliation.

Target has announced that it no longer will be selling Amazon's Kindle e-readers as a retaliatory measure for Amazon's encouragement of American shoppers to "showroom" products at retailers and then buy them less expensively online. Given that Target was the first brick-and-mortar retailer to sell the popular e-reader, the move is particularly galling for Amazon.Continue reading...