Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

New York --  Chinese E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings sold about $2 billion worth of goods on its websites within approximately the first hour of its annual shopping extravaganza.    This is the sixth year Alibaba has celebrated Singles Day, or 11.11 (named after the date, 11/11), a 24-hour deep-discount festival designed to boost sales during an otherwise weak period in China's sales calendar.   

Recently, I participated in a strategic conference that included several sessions on how to effectively use advertising and promotion to reach moms, millennials, multiculturals and other shopper segments. Not surprisingly, significant emphasis was placed on the use of emerging digital and mobile media. But each session also reinforced that traditional media including television, radio, retail feature ads, and Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupons should not be undervalued.

Teen specialty retailer Rue21 has launched a new juniors plus size division called Rue+ the company said its customers have been asking for.

The Rue+ division is intended to serve as a destination for trendy yet affordable plus size apparel and accessories that will inspire and empower plus sized girls to feel confident in how they look, according to the company. The product offering will be available at Rue21.com and in 22 of the company’s 1,100 stores nationwide.

For the second year in a row, Sports Authority said most of its stores would open at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Minneapolis --The competition for the holiday shopper continues with the news that Target Corp. is kicking off the holiday season extra early this year, with plans to offer early access to Black Friday deals for one-day only on Nov. 10, a pre-sale on Nov. 26, and a 6 p.m. store opening on Thanksgiving evening.

Dollar General will honor veterans and their families with a special 11% discount on all qualifying purchases, in-store and online, on Tuesday, November 11, 2014.

Barnes & Noble is giving thanks to veterans this holiday season with a one-day, in-store-only Veterans Day offer of 15% off Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK and NOOK GlowLight devices. 

This offer is available to veterans, active duty military members and their families on Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11, at all Barnes & Noble stores nationwide.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples Inc. is launching holiday in-store, online and mobile deals starting Nov. 16 through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In addition to discounts on a variety of items, Staples is offering an in-store and online price match guarantee, a new mobile app with a redesigned weekly ad page, daily deals on Staples.com, and shopping from in-store kiosks for items not available in the store.