Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

TORONTO — Safeway and Wegman’s Food Markets ranked highest across all customer service elements, according to a survey by Empathica.

Empathica, a customer experience management solution-provider, polled more than 16,000 consumers, and found that operations and merchandise were the two most important elements in grocery shopping versus other elements such as promotions, people and technology.

NEW YORK — Walmart is bringing back its layaway program this holiday season, responding to pressures on low income consumers, MarketWatch reported.

Walmart, which canceled the program in 2006, except for fine jewelery, based on costs and limited use, is bringing back the program at its Walmart U.S. stores for Oct. 17 to Dec. 16 for electronics and toys, according to the report.

Portland, Ore. -- Daily deal site LivingSocial said Tuesday that it has reached new records with its first nationwide grocery deal, implemented with Whole Foods Market.

The debut deal offered shoppers $20 worth of products at Whole Foods for $10.

It was steady as she goes for Target and many other retailers in terms of circular promotional activity in August, according to the last marketing insights from Market Track. There were a few instances where the number of pages per circular increased noticeably even if the number of circulars distributed was fairly consistent. For example, Walmart, Safeway and Best Buy saw the largest increase in pages while Lowe’s, JCPenney and Home Depot were the biggest decliners.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — GameStop announced that customers can get double the PowerUp Rewards points just by reserving and paying in full on select games by Oct. 16, 2011. Participating games include:

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations

• Batman: Arkham City

• Battlefield 3

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

• Super Mario 3D Land

• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

By Diane Buzzeo, DianeBuzzeo@abilitycom

QUINCY, Mass. — Stop & Shop has teamed up with Unilever to support hunger relief efforts of Feeding America and its local member food banks.

The companies said that they are donating $150,000 to the organization, which will provide more than 1 million meals to families in need.

CHICAGO — SymphonyIRI Group on Thursday released a brand report highlighting what elements help drive brand selection and brand loyalty.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Stop & Shop has expanded its A+ School Rewards program and is introducing healthy store tours for kids.

The A+ School Rewards program — which allows customers to designate the points they earn for every dollar spent at Stop & Shop to the school or schools of their choice by registering their Stop & Shop card at StopAndShop.com — increase its contribution to help fund schools with a commitment of $2.5 million.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores will introduce a holiday layaway plan effective Oct. 17 through Dec. 16. The program has a minimum layaway purchase of $50, and requires a 10% down payment. If the program is successful, Wal-Mart said it may extend it throughout the year.

When Wal-Mart phased out its previous layaway offer in September 2006, such programs had fallen out of popularity. But Sears and some merchants brought back layaways as the recession cut into spending.