Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Toronto -- A Thursday report by Reuters said that Sears Canada is cutting prices on more than 5,000 items as a competitive preemptive move before Wal-Mart and Target begin their expansion march across the country.

According to the report, Sears Canada will also roll out weekly sales promotions and new signage.

At Westfield San Francisco Centre, shoppers have the opportunity to win a $1,000 shopping spree, while Westfield has the chance to gain valuable marketing access.

Westfield mall patrons are invited to text “spree” and their email address in order to be entered into a drawing for a $1,000 shopping spree. The text also opts them in to receive ongoing alerts and up to four messages per month from Westfield.

Opt-out is easy, requiring only a “stop” text to a designated number.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Tuesday by the Commerce Department showed that consumer spending on retail goods rebounded in January after a flat holiday season.

Retail sales rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, as consumers upped spending at department and general merchandise stores, as well as bought more electronics, home and garden supplies and sporting goods. Excluding autos, building materials and fuel sales, retail spending leaped 0.7%.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Friday launched @WAGSocialCare, a Twitter customer hotline that takes on complaints and praise from Walgreens customers via the social media site. The site is being followed only by 20 "tweeters" through Monday, as compared with the more-than 90,000 who follow Walgreens' corporate Twitter account.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is following in the footsteps of the likes of Target and Walmart in offering a digital edition of its weekly advertising circular that will offer additional items through Walgreens.com and the company's mobile applications.

The Sunday circular — read by more than 50 million consumers, according to Walgreens — also will get a new look and feel, designed to improve the shopping experience.

Atlanta -- Mild weather over much of the country spurred increased retail card spending growth in January, according to First Data Corp.’s SpendTrend, which tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.

Overall year-over-year dollar volume growth was 7.0% in January, while overall transaction growth was 7.2%. Mild winter weather nationwide resulted in lower energy demands, providing consumers with additional income to spend at retailers.

Consistent with Walmart’s drive toward every day low prices, January saw the company run fewer, but larger advertising inserts, according to the latest information from marketing intelligence firm Market Track. To see how Walmart’s advertising activity stacked up to other top retailers, click here.

Reston, Va.  -- Online retail spending reached $49.7 billion for the fourth quarter, up 14% over a year ago, according to comScore.  It was the ninth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. For the entire 2011 year, U.S. retail e-commerce spending reached a record $161.5 billion, marking a 13%  increase from 2010.

Washington, D.C. -- The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index revealed Thursday that consumer confidence in the U.S. climbed for the second week in a row, suggesting rising optimism about economic issues.

The Index rose to minus 44.8 in the period to Jan. 29 from minus 46.4 the previous week. A measure of Americans’ view of the state of economy climbed to the highest since June, according to the report.

New York City -- The nation’s apparel retailers reported mixed results for January as shoppers remain cautious about spending in the uncertain economy.

“It was as tough month as retailers battled holiday hangover, lack of incentive to shop and mild winter that killed outerwear clearance," said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics Inc., in a Reuters report.

As the first month of the year, January accounts for only 20% November-January sales, and 7% of annual sales, according to RetailMetrics.