Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Tuesday by online shopping site PriceGrabber found that 88% of shoppers plan to research their holiday gift purchases in advance to find the best deals.

Of those, 38% plan to spend three to six hours researching holiday gift purchases, 29% plan to spend up to two hours, 19% said they plan to spend over 10 hours and 14% indicated between seven and 10 hours.

Pricing studies conducted this week by Wall Street analysts yielded familiar results.

Deutsche Bank analyst Charles Grom and Citigroup analyst Deb Weinswig issued reports this week comparing Walmart’s prices to dollar stores and conventional supermarkets and Target.

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General is promising big savings on toys -- right up until Christmas Eve. From Sept. 29 through Dec. 24, the retailer is offering a 10% discount on toy purchases of $75 or more.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Thursday announced the availability of flu shots on a walk-in basis at all Safeway pharmacy locations.

An intriguing shopper marketing initiative involving Unilever and Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market division was launched today in select markets.

The two companies launched an intriguing program designed to help shoppers save money, drive sales of Unilever brands at Fresh & Easy stores and help the Arbor Day Foundation plant trees.

Each year, since the “big recession,” retailers have been putting out their holiday decorations and starting their promotional sales as early as mid-October. It used to be that Black Friday was the kick-off that got everyone out to the stores in search of that must-have discounted gift for their loved ones. This year, however, the calendar barely hit September and I saw Christmas trees on display at my local Costco and retailers announcing their layaway program incentives.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation estimates that U.S. retailers and their customers are benefiting from savings of up to $18 million every day since the implementation of the debit card swipe fee reform.

Washington, D.C. -- Survey results released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation found that 71.5% of Americans will celebrate Halloween this year, up from 68.6% last year and the most in NRF’s 10-year survey history.

The consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight also found the average person will spend $79.82 on decorations, costumes and candy, up from $72.31 last year, with total Halloween spending expected to reach $8.0 billion.