Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Specialty home décor and gifts retailer Kirkland’s is looking to foment customer loyalty with the launch of a K Club Rewards loyalty program on Oct. 20, which will offer consumers exclusive discount opportunities and points on eligible purchases.

“We are excited to offer our customers a new way to earn rewards when they shop at Kirkland’s,” said Mark Krebs, Kirkland’s VP of marketing. “Our goal was to make this program customer-centric, simple and fun, and we have been pleased to hear positive feedback so far.”

Port Washington, N.Y. -- The majority of consumers intend to spend the same as or more than last year, with fewer saying they plan to spend less, according to The NPD Group’s Holiday Spending Survey, the twelfth annual survey of consumers’ holiday spending intentions.

Washington, D.C. - Consumers will take a conservative approach to spending this holiday season. According to NRF’s holiday consumer spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average holiday shopper will spend $737.95 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, 2% less than the $752.24 they actually spent last year.  Despite this reduction in individual holiday budgets, NRF is forecasting holiday sales will increase 3.9% to $602.1 billion.

99 Cents Only Stores is driving some Halloween traffic to its stores by taking its marketing campaign to the zoo. From 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Oct. 19-Oct. 20 and again on Oct. 26-Oct. 27, the retailer will be on hand at the Los Angeles Zoo's 24th Annual Boo at the Zoo event.

Store employees will be handing out goodies to children at trick-or-treating stations throughout the zoo. 99 enthusiast Papa Joe Aviance will be at the 99 Cents Only Stores booth reading spooky stories to the kids.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Black Friday shopping may be on the decline, according to a new study by CFI Group, a customer satisfaction technology and analytics firm. The company’s 2013 Holiday Retail Spending Report found fewer than 25% of consumers plan to spend more than half of their total holiday shopping budgets during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period. But 45% said they will begin before November, with 61% indicating they'll finish their shopping completely by early December

New York — More than half (54%) of shoppers who used a coupon during purchase would not have made the purchase without the deal; in addition, 55% of these shoppers were inspired to shop because they received a coupon. Those are some of takeaways from a recent survey by Tada.com, which offers deals and coupons from more than 5,000 retailers.

Kmart is kicking off the holiday shopping season with the launch of a new lease-to-own program in time for Black Friday.

Kmart said it would launch the program through Whynot Leasing and make it available nationwide starting on Nov. 22. Sears, also part of parent company Sears Holdings, also is launching the program, making it available for more than 95 million items via Sears Marketplace, including electronics, home goods, jewelry and tools, as well as major brands and boutique items.

Amazon.com has unveiled its 2013 holiday toy list which features, for the first time, top toy picks voted on by Amazon Mom fans and an enhanced Holiday Gift Finder that allows shoppers to filter by age, gender, interests, brands and price points.

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS is reportedly offering a new program to its ExtraCare loyalty program members, called myWeeklyAd, which creates a personalized profile with targeted product offers based on previous purchases. According to Wall St. Cheat Sheet, CVS spent about $7 million on the omnichannel program which is available on PC, tablet and smartphone.

The opening of two new Stein Mart stores in New Jersey and California this month will round out the discount department store operator's 2013 capital expansion program and give it a year-end total of 264 units.

The opening follows four new stores last month in El Paso, Texas; Buford, Ga.; Elk Grove, Calif.; and Colorado Springs, Co., as well as a September comparable-store sales increase of 5% and a total net sales increase of 7.3% for the month.