Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

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.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. reported a loss of $36.2 million in the second quarter, narrowed from a loss of $37.3 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue edged up 1.1% to $563.5 million, compared with $557.1 million in the prior year period. Same-store sales increased 1.6%.

“We were pleased that we achieved comparable store sales growth, particularly given the challenging promotional environment and continuation of soft traffic trends,” said Brendan Hoffman, CEO.

Staples has enlisted Kenshoo, a global leader in predictive media optimization technology, and RevTrax, a promotions platform that drives and measures in-store sales through digital coupons, to help the company optimize omnichannel campaigns in Canada.

San Francisco -- Kenshoo, a provider of predictive media optimization technology, and RevTrak, a promotions platform that drives and measures in-store sales through digital coupons, announced the results of a partnership uniting offline conversions and paid search performance for omnichannel optimization for Staples Canada.

It’s time for customers who shop at Macy’s to feel extra good as the retailer gears up for its ninth annual national “Shop For A Cause” charity event Saturday, Aug. 23.

The one-day-only shopping event was created to support local charities’ fundraising efforts. Since 2006, the program has helped raise more than $44 million for thousands of charities across the country.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in July 2013 versus July 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. The start of the back-to-school season saw large decreases in these metrics for both Staples and Walmart across the board. Walmart continued its trend of smaller, less dense, highly-targeted and themed circulars. It barely touched on BTS on the front pages of its July 2013 circulars, with only a small laptop ad and some apparel promotions. 2014 saw a more concentrated effort as early as 7/13, prominently featuring notebooks, glue sticks, and crayons.

Boston -- Walmart continues to maintain its basket price advantage over Target, according to Kantar Retail’s semi-annual pricing study. But while Walmart maintained its lower-priced basket – with a leap even further ahead in non-edible grocery – the retailer’s basket was still only 1% less expensive than Target’s, the smallest price gap since the June 2012 study.  
 

Target Canada is looking to improve business performance with a new set of initiatives that the company has unveiled on the heels of some leadership changes last spring, as well as a comprehensive review of its Canadian operations.

Among the initiatives, Target unveiled a new price-match policy and unveiled a long-term partnership with celebrity designer Sarah Richardson, set to launch next year. Richardson’s new line of home décor will debut exclusively at Target Canada beginning in fall 2015.