Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Overstock.com has come up with an exclusive back to school offer designed to appeal to teachers.

The retailer is offering free Club O loyalty program memberships to teachers of all grade levels. With every purchase on Overstock.com, Club O members receive free shipping and a minimum of 5% back in Club O Rewards Dollars to spend on the online shopping website.

The push vs. pull debate has now crossed into mobile marketing and, similar to discussions regarding email marketing and other online initiatives, each approach offers pros and cons. And, as with most debates, a healthy balance is usually the best bet.

Some liken push marketing to spam as consumers often experience unexpected or too many promotional offers via smartphone either through a browser or native app. But when you are in the market for whatever message or offer is pushed, the promotion becomes relevant and pulls you in.

Woodland Hills, Calif. – A good politician knows to focus locally, and increasingly retailers are following that lead. In that spirit BrightStreet Ventures, the technology affiliate of shopping center developer NewMark Merrill Companies, has launched BlueList, a real-time mobile offers service for local merchants and nearby consumers.

Bronto Software has released the 2015 version of its popular Holiday Resource Center to help retailers optimize marketing strategies and drive sale growth.

New York - With plenty of last year's supplies stowed in the closet and the option to restock at-will, back-to-school shoppers may be in no hurry to fill their shopping baskets by August.   

According to Deloitte's annual back-to-school and back-to-college surveys, 38% of surveyed parents shopping for children in grades K-12 said the back-to-school shopping season is less important to their families because they replenish school supplies throughout the year and feel less need to stock up.

Office Depot Inc. is thinking teachers first with an omnichannel component at the core of its back-to-school promotion.

The calendar may only say July, but retailers are already promoting back-to-school.  

Here are four promotional trends the folks at Market Track predict will play out this selling season:

• Retailers/e-retailers creating new mid-year “Black Friday” type events concurrent with Back to School. (e.g., Amazon's Prime Day, Target’s Black Friday in July, etc.)

Barnes & Noble's Get Pop-Cultured campaign is getting a dose of medicine from Dr. Seuss ths month.