Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

SALISBURY, N.C. — Food Lion will kick off its Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Fall Football Campaign this week. The campaign will run through Sept. 17 to support local children and their families receiving medical care from 26 children's hospitals.

DALLAS — 7-Eleven stores have introduced a Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll, the retailer's first warm bakery offering and the first Pillsbury-branded fresh-bakery item with a convenience retailer.

Available with hot foods as well as in the fresh bakery case at participating stores, 7-Eleven's sweetly spiced will be available for purchase for $1.69 each.

As we transition into fall, let’s bid a fond farewell to summer 2013 by looking at how Benson’s Homemade Ice Cream, an independent seasonal ice cream parlor in the idyllic community of Boxford, Mass., uses Facebook in ways that larger retailers may want to emulate.

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Atlanta – Chick-fil-A is running a “Breakfast on Us” cross-channel promotion that offers a free breakfast entrée to customers who make an online reservation for any Chick-fil-A restaurant. Beginning Aug. 29, customers can visit Chick-fil-AForBreakfast.com to reserve a breakfast entree of choice, as well as a time to redeem their breakfast item at a local Chick-fil-A restaurant between Sept. 9 and Spt. 14.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark plans to shorten the length of in-store receipts members of its ExtraCare loyalty program receive by about 25%. In a recent Facebook posting, CVS announced that in response to customer complaints it had found a way to shorten the length of receipts without reducing the amount of ExtraCare rewards and savings offered on them.

In addition, next year CVS will allow ExtraCare members to receive all rewards and savings directly to their card. Currently only select offers can be stored paperlessly on ExtraCare cards.

St. Louis – Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is publicly accusing Walgreens of charging customers more for some products at the cash register than their advertised price in the store aisle. According to Bloomberg, Koster said Missouri will sue Walgreens for false and misleading advertising after a two-month undercover investigation of eight stores in cities including St. Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City.

Delivering a superior mobile experience is a top holiday priority

Retailers can expect mobile devices to impact sales and play a greater role in buying decisions this holiday than last. Mobile as a percentage of site traffic on Black Friday shot up to 24% in 2012 from 14.3% the previous year. Sales over smartphones and devices on Black Friday rose to 16% in 2012, up from 9.8% in 2011.

New York -- Parents shopping for back –to-school goods react positively to ads that focus on sales and deals to maximize their appeal to shoppers, according to SAP Retail, and they react negatively to commercials that only serve as a reminder of the season. Using SAP’s social media analytics software, the company gathered social sentiment around the 2013 back-to-school season, analyzing more than 600,000 conversations across social channels, including Twitter and Facebook.