For too long, JCPenney traffic and sales were boosted by coupons that customers clipped and used in-store. When CEO Ron Johnson took over in November of last year, he promised that he would stop using coupons and make the new "jcp" a place of everyday savings, where customers would come if they knew that prices were low every day. So the company ditched coupons altogether back in February.

It turned out, however, that no coupons took a bite out of the bottom line, so the beleaguered Johnson emailed customers to say they shouldn’t have to wait around for sales, to so please enjoy a $10 “gift” to use before Nov. 4. That gift, to many, smacked of a coupon, but the store positioned it as more of an uncoupon.

A spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that it wasn’t a coupon: "This invitation is in no way a reflection of a departure from our fair and square everyday low price." Call it what you want, but the hope is clearly to get some bodies into the stores and pick up some sales before the holiday season hits.

Another idea put forth by Johnson, who used to work for Apple and helped to conceive their retail stores and Genius Bars, was to create mini-stores with pop-up boutiques for such brands as Levi’s, Sephora, and Liz Claiborne. At least one of them is feeling good about it.Continue reading...

Sephora, the high-end beauty retailer owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, operates more than 1,600 stores worldwide where customers can try and apply make-up before they buy. Under digital head Julie Bornstein, Sephora is in the midst of its own “social and mobile makeover,” bridging the worlds of offline and online — stylishly, of course.

Case in point: today Sephora announced a partnership with Pantone, the global color authority, for a digital app. Dubbed SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ, it's described as "the most advanced foundation matching solution available in North American beauty retail. Using Pantone’s color capture and measuring technology, SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ is the first and only beauty system to scan the surface of the skin, assign an official PANTONE® SkinTone™ number, and match a scientifically precise foundation shade from Sephora’s 1,000 foundations, brands and formulas." The service launches today at Sephora's Times Square flagship in New York, and on August 2nd in San Francisco.

Social business, as Brian Solis calls it, is de rigueur for brands today, iterating from social to digital and experiential. That's why Sephora is taking its digital operations to the next level in a redesigned website with amped up search, an iOS mobile app and a new mobile website, Sephora is installing iPads in more than 100 of its stores in an integration with Pinterest replete with “Pin It” buttons for all its product pages.Continue reading...

Americans love their gift cards, as the average American adult gives five a year and they are the most requested gift. Now they can turn to Wrapp, a social gifting service that enables F2F (friend-to-friend) marketing on behalf of brands.

The Swedish startup, founded last year, launches today in the U.S. with major retail partners including Gap, Fab.com, H&M, Sephora, the Wall Street Journal, Brooklyn Industries, Warby Parker, WeSC, Gant, Bjorn Borg, with another 15 retailers in the wings.Continue reading...

American Apparel may have a knight in shining armor: George Soros.

American Express sees millions of Twitter Sync coupons redeemed within first five days.

Ann Taylor tweaks brand lineup.

Apple finds iPhone falling behind Samsung in China.

BBC America bets on New Yorkers as tastemakers for new cooking show.

Barnes & Noble tests Penguin publishing boutiques in its stores.

CNN reportedly in talks to acquire Mashable.

Chevrolet shows off networked car at SXSW.

Chevron plays catch-up in shale gas.

Chipotle gets a big bang for the little buck.Continue reading...

Facebook appears ready to go public with $10 billion IPO in early February, despite ire at leak.

Exxon Mobil sells Japanese subsidiary for $4 billion in move to cut refining.

News Corp. reportedly woos Bloomberg exec as Twitter-happy Murdoch sees weekend arrests at The Sun tabloid.

ABB buys Thomas & Betts for $4 billion.

Angry Birds boss doesn't fear piracy.

Apple aims to sell 40 million iPhones in China next year.

Altria sees tobacco users embrace discount brands.

Bank of America shakes up investment banking division.

Barnes & Noble takes on Amazon with fifth Nook device.

Beyonce sees university class focus on her.Continue reading...

It's a funny thing about color. It can lift a mood as much as depress it. Color is so much a part of brand marketing that many consumers may not even think about the impact one color or another has on a purchase decision.

Pantone knows just how important color is in marketing; in fact, the company has built a business around it. Each year, Pantone, which describes itself as "the global authority on color," selects a color of the year — before the year begins — to rally the world's designers around it. In fact, the color is selected based on a poll conducted with designers. Last year's color was the "vibrant, energetic" shade of pink called Honeysuckle; some referred to it as "Mad Men pink."

For 2012, Pantone's pick moves the dail a few clicks hotter, from a warm pink to pure tangerine dream, with the selection of "Tangerine Tango," a citrus-red hue that leans orange than red — although it's certainly red hot, popping up all over the Spring 2012 runway collections during the September Fashion Week shows.Continue reading...

Kiip (pronounced "keep") has opened a new mobile doorway for advertisers to reward gamers. The premise underlying the seven month-old start-up: beat a level or get a high score and Kiip sends you free food and goods from brand partners for games you’re already playing. It's like Vegas for gaming high-rollers! Without the Vegas or high-roller part.Continue reading...

It's getting to the point where one might consider LVMH the European Union of brands.

The French conglomerate, which legitimately calls itself a "world leader in luxury goods," owns 60 upper echelon brands, many of which have the kind of global cachet most brands can only dream about. These brands accounted last year for more than 20 billion euros in sales and 3 billion euros in profit.

The LVMH stable includes Dom Perignon, Krug and Hennessy in wine and spirits; TAG Heuer and DeBeers in watches and jewelry; Celine, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton in fashion; Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci and Fendi in perfumes and cosmetics; and beauty products purveyor Sephora in specialty retailing.

Add the one billion-euro Italian luxury jewelry brand, Bulgari to the list, acquired this week by LVMH.Continue reading...