Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

New York — Nearly 70% (68%) of consumers plan to spend up to $500 this back-to-school shopping season compared with 63% in 2012 and 48% in 2011, according to a new spending forecast from e-commerce platform provider PriceGrabber.  Additionally, 17% of respondents plan to spend between $500 and $1,000, and 15% of shoppers said they have no back-to-school shopping budget this year. Conducted from June 17 to July 8, 2013, the survey includes responses from 2,191 U.S. online shopping consumers.

Back-to-school shoppers get a free three day pass at Sam’s Club beginning August 2, as part of an initiative to increase membership at the warehouse club.

Sam’s is inviting shoppers to visit its more than 600 clubs beginning Friday, August 2, without paying any type of membership fee or non-member surcharge. The retailer has conducted similar open house events in the past as a means to expose shoppers to the Sam’s Club experience and hopefully convert a meaningful number to dues-paying members, at either the $45 base membership level or $100 Plus member level.

By combining offers with other retailers or entities, retailers can avoid being victimized by the “adverse selection” of consumers who simply look for the largest discount they can find at a given time, Alex Rampell, CEO and co-founder of offer-based payment platform TrialPay, told attendees at the recent Retailer Roundtable event sponsored by digital gifting platform CashStar.

“Offering a massive discount just gets people to go elsewhere for a bigger discount,” said Rampell. “Those consumers do not develop into loyal customers.”

LOS ANGELES — With the back-to-school season well underway, a new spending forecast from e-commerce platform provider PriceGrabber conflicts with other recent studies and highlights the danger of placing much credence in what shoppers say about their spending intentions.

PLANO, Texas — Unseasonably cold and wet weather and cautious consumer spending negatively impacted business at Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which reported second quarter 2013 net sales of $1.61 billion, a 1% decrease from $1.62 for the same period last year. 

Reported income from operations for the quarter was $285 million, including $7 million of unrealized commodity mark-to-market losses. Reported income from operations was $300 million in the prior year period, including $6 million of unrealized commodity mark-to-market losses.

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.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot is not forgetting college students during the highly competitive back-to-school season, and to meet that segment’s unique needs, it has teamed up with Chegg, a student hub that offers various services to college students, including textbook rentals.