Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

New York - While the majority of consumers prefer to both shop and spend their money in brick-and-mortar retail stores, more than 60% are increasing their online shopping activities, according to a survey of 1,515 consumers by digital marketing firm SmartFocus. This trend is most prevalent among women (71%) and Millennials.

Overall retail spending growth in August 2014 was the strongest in more than a year, according to the First Data SpendTrend report.

Retail dollar volume growth reached 2.8% in August — compared to 2.6% in July — as back-to-school shopping propelled spending growth in several retail categories.

Anheuser-Busch has teamed up with Gratafy to launch a mobile gifting pilot on Facebook designed to enable real-time connections between the beer brand and its customers.

A series of Anheuser-Busch campaigns will target consumers nationwide in their Facebook News Feeds, giving them the ability to send friends a Budweiser (budweiser.com/budsforbuds) or Bud Light (budlight.com/birthday) in select cities, beginning with Chicago and Denver.

Walmart released its top toy list for 2014 the same day Toys “R” Us unveiled holiday strategies at its flagship store in New York.

Lewisville, Texas – Consumers are increasingly interested in the BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store) option for making purchases. According to a new survey of 1,992 U.S. adults by custom incentive company Parago, 63% of shoppers BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store) at least a few times a year, but 82% percent would consider doing so to receive a $10 rebate on a $50 item.

During a Special Preview Event, Hank Mullany, president, Toys“R”Us, U.S., discussed steps the company has taken so far this year to prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

The company has bolstered its leadership team, completed inventory clearance event to make way for holiday products and launched a new loyalty program called Rewards“R”Us.

New York – Proximity marketing solutions provider Thinaire is introducing its new ActiveShopper digital-coupon-solution that lets brands and retailers deliver incentives to shoppers in the store. Thinaire has integrated loyalty rewards and coupon delivery into its cloud-based mobile engagement platform.

Rakuten has confirmed that it is in the process of acquiring Ebates, a provider of the largest cash-back shopping website in North America, for a total consideration of $1 billion in cash and will hold 100% of Ebates’ outstanding voting stock.

Ottawa, Canada - The retailers who “won” during the holiday season in 2013 were those that offered meaningful discounts on a sizable number of products on Black Friday instead of discounting a small number of door crashers. According to analysis from 360pi and Retail Systems Research, poor financial performance followed those retailers who discounted during the week leading into Black Friday, and those who kept discounts in place following Cyber Monday generally fared better than those who raised prices.

Austin, Texas - Nearly all Americans (96%) are coupon users, according to the latest edition of the Shoppers Trend Report conducted in conjunction with The Omnibus Company. The number of Americans who rely mostly on mobile coupons has been steadily increasing during the past few years (15% in 2014, compared to 10% in 2013 vs. 4% in 2010).