Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

The Sports Authority enlisted the aid of current and former San Francisco 49ers greats to promote awareness of 18 stores it remodeled recently in the Bay Area.

Grand re-opening festivities were scheduled for the 18 stores beginning on Saturday, June 28. Each of the remodeled stores features an intuitive design and specialty sport shops with products from top brands like Nike, Under Armour, Adidas and The North Face, according to the company.

Rebates for lighting upgrades are alive and well, with rebate organizations having updated their rebate and incentive programs for 2014. Currently, 71% of the country is covered by an active commercial lighting rebate, according to BriteSwitch, Princeton, New Jersey, which helps large national companies take advantage of rebate and incentive programs that exist across the United States and Canada.

Here is a review of major rebate trends from BriteSwitch: 

Framingham, Mass. - Staples Inc. is offering a new back-to-school 110% price match guarantee. Starting June 29, Staples customers are guaranteed to pay the lowest price every time they shop in store or online. Staples will price match items sold and shipped by Amazon.com or any retailer who sells products in both retail stores and online under the same brand.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Domino's Pizza is partnering with gamification provider Quikly to give one customer free pizza for a year. Consumers can register for the Fan Perks giveaway beginning June 24, and participate in the giveaway that will take place at a time designed to surprise Domino's customers.

Staples is getting a head start on back-to-school season, launching a price match program starting June 29.
 
Staples announced Tuesday that it would match a competitor’s price — including prices on Amazon and any retailer with both online and brick-and-mortar stores — on any items sold in Staples stores or on Staples.com. Customers will then receive 10% off the difference.
 

Washington, D.C. - A clear majority of Americans say social media has no effect at all on their purchasing decisions. According to a new Gallup poll, 62% in the U.S. say Facebook and Twitter, among other sites, do not have any influence on their decisions to purchase products.

Target is giving customers added incentive to shop online by offering free shipping for all orders of $50 or more.

The new policy, which takes effect immediately, excludes oversize and heavy items, which will be subject to a handling fee.

Walmart continues to press on the mobile phone front with an exclusive deal with Virgin Mobile. As of Saturday, June 21, Virgin Mobile’s payLo will offer customers domestic unlimited voice or unlimited texting for $20 per month.

For budget-conscious consumers who don’t need a smartphone, payLo offers affordable devices and value-driven monthly plans. Customers who purchase a Kyocera Kona or Samsung Montage in participating Walmart stores or at Walmart.com can choose between two exclusive $20-per-month offers:

Fort Worth, Texas – Promotions took their toll on profitability at Pier Imports Inc. during the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The company reduced its earnings guidance for fiscal 2015.

Net earnings fell 25% to $15.1 million from $20.3 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2014.

Total sales for the first quarter were $419.1 million, a 6.1% increase from $394.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Same-store sales increased 6.3%, attributable to increases in total brand traffic, conversion and higher average ticket.

Irvine, Calif. - Baja Fresh is piloting a solution from Sparkfly that will allow it to launch promotions through Google Search, Facebook, Yelp, Opera Mediaworks and UberMedia, and assess the effectiveness of each individual channel with real-time redemption data. Leveraging the technology from the Sparkfly platform, the campaign includes information on basket size and individual items purchased.