Coupons/ Rebates/ Pricing

Kohl's is pulling out all the stops in the hopes of increasing holiday sales this season by staying open through Christmas Eve.

Kohl's plans to keep its doors open for more than 170 hours straight from 7 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17 through 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24 as an added convenience to holiday shoppers. In addition to extended store hours for last-minute shopping, customers will find special savings opportunities on Super Saturday, Dec. 19, and time-saving conveniences such as buy online, pick up in store for last minute gifts.

This month, Target began contacting its Pharmacy Rewards members to informing them that the company was ending the rewards program because CVS/pharmacy will bring its own program when it replaces the pharmacies in Target stores as part of a deal between the two companies announced this summer.

Boston -- Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources announced that the companies will be managing the stores closing process, which has begun, for Los Angeles-based, Kitson, at all 17 locations throughout California, Oregon, and Nevada. Sales are offering discounts of up to 50% on all of the fashion apparel, gifts and novelty merchandise. Store fixtures, furniture and equipment will also be available for sale.

Before you declare your personalized marketing efforts a success, check with your customers.

That is the overriding message from a global study of 1,200 consumers and 200 marketing professionals conducted in October 2015 by Forrester Consulting for hybris. The study, “The Contextual Marketing Imperative,” finds that while 66% of marketers rate their efforts at personalization as “very good” or “excellent,” just 31% of consumers report companies are consistently delivering personalized, cross-channel experiences

Women’s lifestyle brand and retailer Vera Bradley is the latest company to feel the negative sales effects of weaning shoppers off promotions, but the strategic shift has done wonders for the company’s bottom line.

Retailers looking to boost in-store redemption rates for coupons should consider implementing a particular leading edge technology.

A new study from Juniper Research, “Mobile & Online Coupons: Redemption, Loyalty & Consumer Engagement 2015-2020,” has found that nearly 1.6 billion coupons will be delivered annually to consumers via beacon technology by 2020, up more than 10 times from 11 million in 2015.

H-E-B is blazing another new trail in the online grocery market with a special holiday promotion.

The Texas-based grocery chain is hosting 12 Days of Deals, online only, Dec. 5 through Dec. 16. Each day, HEB says, it will feature a doorbuster deal with something for everyone, from TVs and toys, to crockpots and coolers.

GameStop is upping the ante on rewards by allowing customers to use their reward points to save on the cost of fuel.

The retailer is partnering with the Excentus Corp. Fuel Rewards program to allow members to earn fuel savings from purchases made at thousands of participating merchants, retailers and restaurants nationwide.

The CEO of Lands End says the challenging retail environment and unseasonably warm weather did not help the company's turnaround plan in the third quarter. 

The online apparel retailer said that for the period ended Oct. 31, net revenue was $334.4 million, compared to $373.1 million in the third quarter last year. Net income was $10.7 million, compared to $18 million in the third quarter last year. 

It’s no wonder so many shoppers were not impressed with some of the big holiday deals being offered by big retailers this past week.

Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Jet did not heavily discount most popular products and prices actually increased in key categories after Black Friday, cementing a perception that the two celebrated shopping days are waning in importance, according to research from Boomerang Commerce, which aggregated and analyzed online price discounts and price perception for 1,000 popular products sold by Walmart, Target, Amazon and Jet.