Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Boston -- Although Target has narrowed Walmart’s basket advantage, the world’s largest retailer continues to demonstrate its price advantage, according to Kantar Retail’s semi-annual pricing study.

With an overall branded basket 2.4% less expensive than Target’s, Walmart’s overall price gap has still remained within a few percentage points of Target’s, although its lead has narrowed since the last iteration of the study. Importantly, Target’s edible basket was within cents of Walmart’s.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears is offering personalized digital coupons to members of its Shop Your Way loyalty program that are redeemable in-store, online and from a mobile device. Members can download the virtual coupons, tailored to their interests, style preferences and shopping habits, from the Internet or the Sears mobile app.

Digital coupons could be poised for greater growth judging from the warm reception industry leader RetailMeNot got when it offered shares to the public last week.

Shares of RetailMeNot surged 30% in the first hours of trading to more than $27 per share, representing a market cap of more than $1.3 billion, according to Norwest Venture Partners, a multi-stage investment firm which has a 20.5% stake in the company.

Austin, Texas – Digital coupon provider RetailMeNot launches its IPO on Friday of 9,090,908 shares of its Series 1 common stock at a price to the public of $21 per share. Shares will be available on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "SALE." Of the shares in the offering, 4,545,454 shares are being offered by RetailMeNot and 4,545,454 shares are being offered by selling stockholders.

Washington, D.C. – Compared to a record-breaking back-to-school shopping season in 2012, this year’s back-to-school season will not be as impressive. New figures from the NRF and Prosper Insights show that families with school-age children will spend an average $634.78 on apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics, down about 8% from $688.62 last year. Total spending on back-to-school is expected to reach $26.7 billion.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — As retailers large and small vie for foot traffic during the highly competitive back-to-school season, GameStop is focusing its efforts on the segment of its market that is on summer vacation.

The multichannel video game retailer has launched a five-week Summer Playcation promotion the offers gamers deals now through Aug. 18 in all U.S. GameStop locations.

New York -- The average household expenditure on all types of back-to-school items is expected to be about $285 this year, with 39% of consumers planning to spend more than last year and 45% planning to spend about the same. According to a new study from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman-Sachs, 29% of households surveyed have started to shop for back-to-school items, which is lower than the 33% that had started at this time last year but more than in any other year since 2004.

Average spending per school age child is expected to decline this year from 2012 levels, according to the National Retail Federation, setting the stage for heightened competition in an already intensely competitive seasonal selling period.

NRF said spending per child in grades K-12 would decline to $634 in 2013 compared to $688 last year and spending per college student would decline to $836 from $907. The trade group forecast total K-12 spending of $26.7 billion and total back-to-college spending of $45.8 billion for a combined market size of $72.5 billion.

Minneapolis -- Retailer promotion activity continued to grow with a 21.6% increase to more than 11.3 billion pages in the first half of 2013, with Walmart leading in retailer activity, according to Kantar Media’s Marx report. Following on Walmart’s heels were Walgreens, Target and Family Dollar.

New York -- Fashion designer and retailer Kenneth Cole is partnering with the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots on the launch of a limited-edition capsule shoe collection arriving in stores for the holiday season.

To promote the launch, a designated area in front of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street in Manhattan) will encourage passersby to try and win a pair of Kinky Boots tickets by following @kennethcoleprd and @kinkybootsbway and Instagraming a photo of their "kinky" shoes using #KCKinkyboots.