Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Michaels is giving children a Passport to Imagination this summer with a new free program.

This year, the low-cost, in-store sessions will focus on summer vacation fun, including lake picnics, afternoons at the beach, county fairs, music festivals and more. Passport to Imagination begins July 6 and will run through Aug. 21 in all Canadian stores, with three classes per week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon.

Cincinnati -- Consumers, especially millennials, are willing to ante up for fee-based loyalty programs.

In a survey by LoyaltyOne, 62% of respondents said they’d consider joining a fee-based rewards program if their favorite retailer offered one. The number was even higher among millennials with 75% of 18-24 year-olds and 77% of 25-34 year-olds saying they’d consider joining a fee-based rewards program.

Port Washington, Wis. -- Allen Edmonds, the 93-year-old premium men’s shoe brand, is embracing the digital age.

The company is offering its first-ever “Factory Seconds” flash sale on its web site. The seven-day-long sale starts June 26 and ends on July 2.

New York -- The world’s largest online retailer will soon be driving around and selling product out of a truck — a truck that looks like a giant Amazon package.

Following a recent open invitation to U.S. retailers from Alibaba’s Jack Ma, everyone from established American brands to smaller mom and pop operations are looking to plug into the China opportunity. But what most American retailers don’t realize is that even with the reduced friction that technology has recently afforded, selling to the Chinese consumer is harder than it looks.

Walmart’s interpretation of EDLP and a desire to simplify operations with a uniform supplier agreement sparked confusion this week among those unfamiliar with the company’s business model.

Digital media company Catalina is launching a new solution that personalizes the deals found in weekly retail ad circulars. 

The program, called My Favorite Deals, is designed to increase ROI in a major area of marketing spend for U.S. retailers.

Redwood City, Calif. – The Shopular mobile shopping app is rolling out two platform upgrades -- Shopular Products and Shopular Curated Content. Shopular, available for free download from iTunes and Google Play, geo-targets consumers with time- and location-sensitive deal alerts and savings from their preferred merchants from more than 40,000 retail locations across the U.S.  

Washington, D.C. – Back-to-school spending for both K-12 and college students is on the upswing this year. According to a study of more than 6,400 adults with children in K-12 and college conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights, 29% of K-12 households plan to spend more in the current year than the previous year, as do almost 30% of college households.

Sunnyvale, Calif. – Retailers who target a consumer base of moms have some new competition. PatPat is a new, free-to-download app for iOS and Android that brings moms direct access to manufacturers of clothing, toys, electronics and home goods at a price that is up to 90% less than traditional retailers.