Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income plummeted 40% on higher costs and aggressive discounting during the holiday selling season.

The company reported that net income for the quarter ended Jan. 28 was $218 million, compared with $365 million a year earlier. Sales dipped to $4.28 billion in the quarter, from $4.36 billion, matching Wall Street estimates.

A shopping center owner and manager is on the cutting edge of mobile marketing. DDR Corp., which owns and manages 538 value-oriented shopping centers in the United States, Puerto Rico and Brazil, is testing a service in select properties that combines physical retail assets with location-based mobile marketing.

Retailers should expect online purchases to become a bigger piece of retail sales, particularly in the key fourth-quarter period, where they could soon represent as much as 20% of holiday sales, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, VP and principal analyst, Forrester Research, and a leading expert on e-commerce and trends in the online shopping space.

“The pie for bricks-and-mortar retail is shrinking,” Mulpuru said during a presentation at the National Retail Federation’s 101st Annual Convention & EXPO in New York City.

SAN FRANCISCO — Three-of-every-4 consumers using smartphones and tablets respond to a call to action after seeing a location-specific message, according to the Mobile Audience Insights Report issued by JiWire on Wednesday.

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.

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.

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.