Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

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).

This week, a three-year-old Great Dane from Portland made headlines for consuming 43.5 socks. Hanes is capitalizing on the trending story by offering the mischievous pooch free dog treats for the rest of his life. 

“While Hanes believes its socks are tasty footwear,” the company said in a statement, “it hopes this offer will get the Great Dane snacking on something that's much more pleasant for his tummy.”

Ottawa, Canada - Trying to stay competitive with Amazon.com on price may not be the best path to success for department store and discount retailers. According to pricing analysis of 1,000-plus household goods based on Amazon’s own assortment relative to Kohl’s, Walmart, Target and Macy’s conducted by 360pi and Retail Systems Research from March-June 2014, Kohl’s was consistently 30%-60% above Amazon’s pricing for this sample, but also reported the healthiest financials of the group.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - Kmart is offering a no-money-down layaway program to members of the Shop Your Way loyalty program for the holiday season, starting Sept. 4. Kmart's layaway program includes both online and in-store contracts for coveted items across dozens of merchandise categories, including apparel, home, toys and electronics.

Kmart is also running a new ad for the program both on TV and YouTube.

Kmart is gearing up for the holiday shopping season and reminding customers, including Shop Your Way members, of its No Money Down Layaway program, which is now available.

Mountain View, Calif. – Target’s back-to-school ad “Supplies They Need” resonated most with consumers among all back-to-school ads in 2014. According to TV and video advertising analytics provider Ace Metrix, consumers awarded an Ace Score of 673 to the Target spot.

While gift cards are still made of plastic, digitally formatted gifts cards are increasing in popularity. (According to research by payments giant First Data, electronic gift card sales grew 71% from 2012 to 2013.) Consumers particularly like the customization options — including video and audio in some instances — that some retailers offer with digital cards.

Sterling, Va. - Social media demonstrated the best cost-efficiency of all major online advertising channels in second quarter 2014, coming in at 70% below the industry average for cost and showing a 32% cost decrease quarter over quarter. According to the Q2 2014 Media Intelligence Report from Neustar Inc., social’s reach-efficiency was 286% better than the next channel, portals, and its ability to reach exclusive users (not seen in other channels) improved by 65% quarter over quarter.

Boston - Nearly 80% of college students describe themselves as “more cost-conscious this year than a year ago.” However, according to a recent back-to-school survey of 1,420 U.S. college students by college marketing agency Fluent, students said they are willing to make an exception to the low-spending rule and anticipate spending “more than they should” in select categories, specifically clothing, technology and dorm room accessories.

Following are key highlights from the survey:

Walldorf, Germany – Retailers should consider waiting until August to launch back-to-school promotions and focus them heavily on online shoppers. According to new data from SAP, consumer sentiment toward back-to-school advertising doesn’t become positive till the end of July.