360 DEGREES Weblog

The business of selling gold has come to the supermarket, at least in the UK. Supermarket giant Tesco launched a gold exchange program online and in stores that allows customers to turn in their gold jewelry and receive cash deposited directly to their bank accounts. According to reports, the program, which began in November, works similar to other mail-in programs which have potential customers sending away unwanted or damaged gold jewelry in a prepaid package. After the package is evaluated the customer receives an offer letter and can choose whether or not to accept. Valuations are not done in the stores.Tesco’s website says it will pay £7.81 per gram of nine carat gold. It will also accept gold coins. Like many services, the Tesco service does not compensate for stones in the jewelry so this is best of chains and other pieces that aren’t set with stones which could be valuable.

Milan boutique 10 Corso Como has joined forces with Timberland to work on two make-ups of their boat shoe. The store who usually keeps their collaborations in black and white, chose to go with something a little more colorful this time, using different colors on each panel of the shoe. Also some panels feature the 10 Corso Como logo embossed. Look out for these to release early 2011.

Thanks Smart Magazine.

Legendary luxe New York department store Bergdorf Goodman, founded in 1901, is famous for its amazing, elaborate holiday windows which dazzle shoppers and passersby alike. This year is no exception, with the added attraction of some high-tech features debuting for the very first time. The 2010 windows, entitled “Wish You Were Here,” take their inspiration from fantasy travel to far-flung places involving some rather unusual ways of getting there. The displays feature an array of “wild mash-ups of unexpected arrivals and departures”, each with visual influences as diverse as Roman mythology, 1940s Hollywood musicals, the city’s original Penn Station, and the very first science fiction film.

This year, for the first time, QR codes on several of the windows enable people to view an online Bergdorf Holiday Gift Finder and a video depicting the making of the holiday displays (above) simply by scanning the codes with their smartphone or handheld digital device. Produced entirely in-house by Bergdorf, the video features the song “Follow Me” by 17-year old emerging Sony artist Audrianna Cole. “We are in the surprise business,” notes David Hoey, Bergdorf Goodman’s Senior Director of Visual Presentation and Window Design. “This job is part architect and part cake decorator.” Each of the landmark store’s five main Fifth Avenue windows represents a different destination and a special method of conveyance.

If bricks and mortar retail stores were vampires, then Amazon is a vengeful, ruthless Peter Cushing intent on destroying them. With the latest update to its iPhone app, Peter, er, Amazon has added a sharp wooden stake to the already dangerous tools contained therein: Amazon Mobile now does barcode-scanning.

Simply point the camera of you iPhone 4 or 3GS (running iOS4) at the barcode of a product in-store and you will be swept off to the appropriate product page of the online retail giant’s store. Thus, you can take a long, leisurely demo of that fancy new camera you want down at the local photographic emporium, thanks the salesman for his time and save a few bucks by ordering it from Amazon right there in the store. Hell, if you live in a city with same-day shipping it may even arrive at home before you do.

Amazon’s isn’t the first iApp to scan barcodes, and you have been able photograph an item and have Amazon’s team of worker-monkeys ID a similar item for you in moments. But by integrating the reader into its own app, Amazon is clearly positioning itself as the default store for pretty much anything. Really, why bother carrying something home unless you have to have it right now? Let Amazon deliver it and save some money, too.

Get the app

Leica presents yet another limited edition version of their M9 flagship digital camera. This time they worked with retailer Neiman Marcus. The camera comes with a chrome finish and brown oestrich leather upper and matching oestrich leather strap. The camera will release soon and retails for 17′500 USD.

There’s no doubt businesses are starting to realize the broader marketing potential of location-based check-ins. We’ve seen hotels using Topguest, for example, to reward consumers for checking in at a variety of locations; we’ve also seen HBO rewarding

The ostrich eggs have hatched at the Bond St Louis Vuitton store in London. Every few days a new egg is hatched revealing a new shoe, watch or accessory.

You can always rely on Louis Vuitton for original, fresh window displays.

We’re living in the era of retail-tainment, where we’ve come to expect live music at the Apple Store, mountaineering discussions at REI and product demos at Bed Bath & Beyond. Not surprisingly, well-known talent is stepping into this area because it’s a welcoming and unique environment in which to plug one’s latest project. Marketers, who benefit greatly from the star power, are only too willing to make this all happen. (Sarah McLachlan recently played a live show in a JetBlue terminal; no word on how many fans watched the concert instead of catching their flights.) Now, soul singer Joss Stone is hitting the Nine West flagship store in midtown Manhattan on Sept. 10 for a live performance. She’ll also be at the Macy’s on 34th Street in Herald Square that day to chat with fans and sign copies of her new CD. It’s part of Fashion’s Night Out, an annual charity event in New York, and Stone’s promotion of a co-branded line she designed for Nine West. (She even wrote a song about it!) Stone’s Vintage America collection includes shoes, clothing, jewelry and other accessories. Everyone involved hopes that grooving while you shop will boost the bottom line. You have to admit, it’s catchy.

Thanks to Brandfreak

After weeks of speculation and several teaser videos, today H&M has officially announced that their next designer collaboration collection, will designed by none other than Lanvin?s Albert Elbaz.

?Lanvin is the latest brand to collaborate with H&M, with previous collections designed by the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Comme des Gar?ons and Sonia Rykiel. In a new twist, the Lanvin for H&M collection will be revealed to the world through a special film which will be launched on November 2. The film will be available for all to see online at www.hm.com. Following the film?s debut, it will be just three weeks before customers have the chance to get their hands on a covetable piece of Lanvin for H&M.?

Designed by Lanvin?s artistic director Alber Elbaz, and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver, the collection will go on sale on November 23 in around 200 H&M stores worldwide. The collection of both womenswear and menswear will be revealed to the world on November 2, just three weeks before the clothes hit the store, making the launch of Lanvin for H&M among the most anticipated fashion events of the year.

Retailers are experimenting with numerous different ways to blend online and off for their customers, as we’ve already seen on several occasions. Curbside pickup of online orders has been the theme at both Sears and French hypermarket chain E.Leclerc, while Shutl and several others have been pushing the bounds of near-instant home delivery. The latest spotting? British Tesco, which just last week launched what it calls a