Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

New York -- Walmart plans to expand its online price comparison tool, Savings Catcher, that compares prices on select products with those of some of its competitors to cities nationwide over the next few months, the Associated Press said. The retailer is also adding more products to the tool, which will now be available on Walmart's mobile app.

Undeterred by bad weather and competitive pressures that took a toll on its first quarter performance, Dollar General is pressing ahead with plans for 700 new stores, recently opened its 12th distribution center and believes its full year profit forecast is attainable.

Father’s Day is already the smallest of gift-giving holidays and this year Americans are expected to spend even less, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2014 Father’s Day Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

The survey found that the average person will spend $113.80 on neckties, tools, electronics and other special gifts for dad, slightly down from $119.84 last year. Total spending for the holiday is expected to reach $12.5 billion.

Austin, Texas - More people buy Mother's Day gifts than Father's Day gifts (86%, compared to 77%). According to the 2014 Father’s Day Shopper Trend report from RetailMeNot, survey respondents say they spend $61 on Father's Day gifts and $68 on Mother's Day gifts.

Savvy consumer packaged goods and retail marketers already know the value of leveraging social media to drive sales and now Twitter has equipped them with a new tool to more effectively engage shoppers.

The social media platform recently introduced a new creative ad unit called the “Website Card” which enables advertisers to perform the neat trick of surfacing Web site content within a Tweet. Doings so allows advertisers to then drive traffic to any page of their site such as a specific product page, relevant blog post or notworthy review.

Minneapolis – Best Buy Co. Inc. swung to a net profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from a net loss in the same period a year earlier, but missed estimates with a drop in sales. The retailer posted net income of $461 million, a big turnaround from a net loss of $81 million.

Toronto – Sears Canada more than doubled its net loss year-over-year to $75.2 million, from $31.2 million in a difficult first quarter of fiscal 2014. Expenses related to the closure of stores and severance of personnel played a major role in the growth of the retailer’s net loss.

Framingham, Mass. – The TJX Cos. Inc. increased both net income and sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 on a year-over-year basis, although sales missed analyst projections. Net income grew slightly to $454.32 million from $452.89 million, while net sales increased 5% to $6.49 billion from $6.19 billion.

Analysts had expected net sales of $6.6 billion. Same-store sales remained flat. Carol Meyrowitz, CEO of TJX, blamed soft apparel sales for the miss on expected net sales.