Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Sam’s Club is temporarily suspending is membership fee this weekend to engage in Texas’ tax-free holiday and promote new member sign ups.

The tax-free holiday for back-to-school products begins today and runs through Sunday. Texas is home to 74 of Sam’s 613 U.S. clubs, and during the same three-day period Sam’s will allow non-members to shop its clubs.

A lot has changed in the past year on the social media block. Facebook and Twitter are no longer the only two major players helping retailers connect and engage with their shoppers in real time. Consumers are flocking to platforms such as social-photo sharing sites Pinterest and Instagram, and some brands are even creating their own social blog accounts on Tumblr.

LOS ANGELES — Nearly half of consumers polled in the latest PriceGrabber survey respondents said that retailers are serving up better back-to-school promotions this year, compared with 2011.

Los Angeles -- A PriceGrabber back-to-school survey released on Wednesday found that 48% of consumers believe retailers are offering better back-to-school shopping promotions this year.

According to the survey, 88% of consumers chose 'sales' as the top retailer promotion that will entice them to make a back-to-school purchase this year. Forty-nine percent of shoppers cited coupons; 44% noted that "free items with purchase" would persuade them to buy; and 34% selected sales available online only.

Retailers looking to add sparkle to this year’s Christmas season may want to take a new look at their gift card programs. Last year, more than half of consumers bought at least one gift card for the holidays, according to a report from First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based e-commerce processor.

Indeed, consumers seem to be taking more of a shine than ever to these types of spending vehicles.

With more and more consumers accessing social network sites to gather input and post reviews, Chain Store Age spoke with Dick Reed, CEO of Just Media, on a subject that is a top priority for retailers across the board: how to reach out to consumers in today’s social media world.

Your company has done some detailed research on how consumers make buying decisions in today’s social media world. Tell us about it.

Sam’s Club is temporarily suspending is membership fee this weekend to engage in Texas’ tax-free holiday and promote new member sign ups.

The tax-free holiday for back-to-school product runs Aug. 17 to 19 in Texas, home to 74 of Sam’s 613 U.S. clubs. During the same three day period Sam’s will allow non-members to shop its clubs.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Co. reported Friday a bigger-than-expected second-quarter loss of $147 million, compared with net income of $14 million in the same period last year.

Sales plummeted 22% to $3.02 billion from $3.9 billion, and same-store sales tumbled 21.7% after an 18.9% fall in the first quarter. Wall Street had forecast revenue of $3.2 billion.

Facing the investment community on Friday, CEO Ron Johnson admitted to some strategic pricing mistakes, but said he and his team will stay the course.