Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Food Lion has unveiled a new online tool, MVP Coupon Hub, to make accessing grocery coupons online easier for customers.

The new tool, found on the grocer’s website features load-to-card and printable coupons.

New York -- Snowstorms and bitterly cold weather took a bite out of sales for some retailers in January. One of the retailers feeling the chill was Fred’s, which posted a 1.8% decline in January same-store sales.

"The weather was a significant challenge for us in January," said CEO Bruce Efird, who added that it disrupted shopping patterns, but also resulted in “more than 120 store closings during the final week of the month."

Salisbury, N.C. -- Food Lion has unveiled a new online tool, MVP Coupon Hub, to make accessing grocery coupons online easier for customers. The new tool, found on the grocer's website, features convenient load-to-card and printable coupons on customers' favorite items.

"We're proud to bring our customers the new MVP Coupon Hub, which helps customers save by offering hundreds of additional coupons," said Keith Nicks, director of loyalty and digital marketing for Food Lion.

Stop & Shop has donated more than $2 million to hunger relief organizations across the Northeast thanks to participating customers.

According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, for every dollar donated they can provide three meals to those in need, so the combined efforts from Stop & Shop New England and Stop & Shop New York Metro divisions will help provide more than 6 million meals.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in January 2013 versus January 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. The home improvement retailers appear to have reversed course somewhat. In previous months, Home Depot focused on smaller, denser circulars while Lowe’s typically featured many pages with few ads on each. While this is still generally true, Home Depot saw a moderate 25% increase in circular page count and Lowe’s doubled its number of ads per page and per circular.

Houston - Shell has launched “How I FRN,” a contest that invites consumers to submit a photograph or video via Instagram or Twitter that represents the individual's experience with the Shell Fuel Rewards Network (FRN) loyalty program.

Jacksonville, Fla. - Shoppers are increasing eating out by actually eating in as they take advantage of ready-to-eat foods and meal solution offerings from grocery stores, quick-serve restaurants, food delivery and take away. A new study from AMG Strategic Advisors, “The Why? Behind the Buy,” shows that Millennials are most likely to use prepared food for meal solutions, but overall, 77% of total U.S. shoppers reported eating out in the past month.

Chicago - An overwhelming majority (89%) of moms are regularly influenced by coupons to try new food and drink products. Conducted by online community Womensforum.com, the "Womensforum.com Supermarket Moms Survey" of 2,200 moms also finds nearly half (49%) of grocery-seeking moms see it as a frequent occurrence.