Loyalty Marketing

Sionic Mobile, an m-commerce company that provides mobile gifting, payments and rewards, has added William Mills, CEO of William Mills Agency, to its advisory board of directors. Mills has more than 30 years of financial marketing and branding expertise.

Inclement weather was not enough to keep Walgreens from posting January sales of $6.4 billion, an increase of 3.7% as compared to the year-ago period.

Total front-end sales increased 2.4% compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.6%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.2% while basket size increased 3.8%.

Canton, Mass. -- For the eighth consecutive year, Dunkin' Donuts has been ranked number one in customer loyalty in the coffee category by the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. Dunkin' Donuts was also ranked number one in customer loyalty in the packaged coffee category for the second consecutive year.

Target plans to open a new store in the city of Kahulu — its first on the island of Maui in Hawaii — in March 2015. The store will be located on Hookele Street as part of the Pu‘unēnē Shopping Center.

The 140,000-sq.-ft. store will feature Target’s everyday essentials and exclusive brands along with a selection of fresh produce, fresh packaged meat and pre-packaged baked goods, as well as a Starbucks and a Target Pharmacy.

Washington, D.C. – Fewer U.S. consumers will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, but will spend a little more than last year. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2014 Valentine’s Day spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, 54% of Americans will celebrate with their loved ones in 2014, compared to 60% in 2013.

The average person plans to spend $133.91 on candy, cards, gifts, dinner and more, up slightly from $130.97 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $17.3 billion.

On the heels of a healthy yet modest holiday shopping season, cautious consumers aren’t quite ready to splurge on Valentine’s Day this year, continuing to keep their budgets in check.

Stop & Shop has donated more than $2 million to hunger relief organizations across the Northeast thanks to participating customers.

According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, for every dollar donated they can provide three meals to those in need, so the combined efforts from Stop & Shop New England and Stop & Shop New York Metro divisions will help provide more than 6 million meals.

By Rory Dennis, Amplience