Online advertising spending will resume double-digit growth in 2010, reaching $61.8 billion worldwide, according to eMarketer.

Unlike other major media, online advertising spending increased in 2009, growing 2 percent to $55.2 billion, the research firm reported.

By 2014, eMarketer estimates online spending will leap to $96.8 billion worldwide, growing at an 11.9 percent compound annual rate, despite the slow, uneven and fragile global economic recovery.

Like many others, you're probably thinking about how this uncertain economy is going to affect your business. It's surely a hot topic among retail marketing leaders. Brands that thrive in recessions tend to be very focused on better merchandising at retail. When budgets are tight, we have to focus on what we know actually sells." This isn’t about creating new brand identities, this is about return on investment at retail.”

Grocery stores, like consumers' food budgets, are shrinking. This month Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened four pilot Marketplace stores in Arizona that are half the size of a traditional supermarket.

Supervalu-owned Jewel-Osco is testing its own small-format store in Chicago known as Urban Fresh. Safeway trialed its version in Southern California. And Whole Foods has said it is scaling down the size of its new stores.

In Trial at Supermarket, Cellphones Will Be the Medium for Discount Offers

Seeking to marry a ubiquitous device with a time-tested marketing technique in a sour economy, Unilever plans to begin a trial run Sunday of a new technology that lets consumers redeem digital coupons by having a supermarket cashier scan their cellphones.

The test, being conducted at a ShopRite store in Hillsborough, N.J., will include discount offers for some of the Anglo-Dutch packaged-goods company's most popular brands, including Breyers ice cream, Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea. Samplesaint, a Chicago mobile-technology firm, developed the system.

BRADFORD, England -- The global recession is spoiling the summer for a lot of industries, but not the U.K.'s supermarkets. They're loving it. With an estimated five million Britons staying home this summer instead of traveling, the country's leading grocers are slugging it out for shoppers' time and money. They're slashing prices, launching new budget brands and taunting the price claims of rivals in advertising.

Marketing a product to a consumer necessitates getting the word out to the public – buy our product and you will get the best bang for your buck. In today’s economy, consumers are not handing out their bucks so quickly. People are being more thoughtful and cautious before parting with their dollars.

Many economists have declared a recession is already here, thus fueling a critical change in thinking for millions of consumers. We have witnessed gas prices across the nation climbing toward or over the $4.00 a gallon mark, the volatility of the stock market, and the soaring number of home foreclosures due to the subprime mortgage financing crisis. With all these conditions preying on us, we are forced to take a more introspective and analytic approach when it comes to personal buying habits.

Your coupons have been distributed. Using a formal process to track your promotion's performance lets you see the true value of your coupon promotion.

Once you've decided that a coupon promotion fits into your marketing plan, it's time to determine the fundamental factors in creating the promotion.

Promotion planning is a necessary step when considering sales building programming.

The following chart is designed to guide you through the promotion planning and evaluation process:

Value programs and other strategies revealed.

A report from Nielsen Consumer Insight suggests that by October 2008, one-third of all U.S. consumers in a survey said they didn't feel secure in their jobs, while half believed they were worse off financially than a year ago. As a result, consumers are taking steps to cut back spending, particularly on major purchases for the: