Loyalty Marketing

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.

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.

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 -- 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.

DALLAS — Scott Naturals has announced the winner of its nationwide promotion, which asked consumers to to pledge to try the Scott Naturals line of hybrid paper products for four weeks.

The brand declared the state of Alaska as the winner and will donate $50,000 to be used toward local forest and land conservation efforts to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, through the National Association of State Conservation Agencies.

When the days grow shorter and the air starts to turn chilly, retail companies prepare for their hottest time of year. As they get ready for the holiday season, retailers will do well to keep three additional factors in mind:

u Adjust for the presidential election. Typically, retailers market heavily in October and early November to drive store foot traffic as the holidays begin. Early marketing efforts, however, will not go as far this holiday season.

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.

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.