Winter Holidays

Fewer sales of flu shots and prescription drugs at Rite Aid led to same-store script count decreases. However, the company reported increases in net and same-store sales for December.

In-store holiday sales during December 2013 are expected to come out ahead of in-store holiday sales during the same month in the previous year. Retail analytics provider Euclid analyzed nearly 25 million domestic shopping sessions during December, revealing that shopper traffic and window conversion improved as heavy promotions kept holiday shoppers coming.

The holiday saw the launch of major consoles, and multichannel videogame retailer GameStop is looking to capitalize by declaring 2014 to be the “Year of Gaming.”

The retailer is offering select items, including console bundles, games and consumer electronics, on sale hoping to lure gamers who didn’t get everything they wanted during the holiday or are looking to use holiday gift cards. The sale runs from now through Sunday, Jan. 5.

Chelsea Handler has teamed up with 7UP Ten to challenge Americans to stop depriving themselves of the things they love in the new year.

The bestselling author and host of late-night TV show, “Chelsea Lately,” and the soda line are launching a series of videos that consumers can view and share with friends.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Overall fourth quarter online sales were up 10.3% year-over-year. The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark indicates that soaring mobile traffic and sales were one of several key drivers.

Mobile traffic accounted for nearly 35% of all online traffic, up 40% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Mobile sales also remained strong, reaching 16.6% of all online sales, up more than 46% from the same period last year.

Plano, Texas -- Pizza Hut will offer 50% off any medium or large pizza ordered online from Jan. 1-10. The online promotion marks the 20th anniversary of Pizza Hut offering online ordering via its “PizzaNet” digital ordering hub.

Participants will also join the brand's "Hut Lovers" program, which provides members with other exclusive deals. Pizza Hut is launching a YouTube ad featuring 1990s pop artists Ace of Base as part of the promotion.

CINCINNATI — Leaving the iconic Times Square clean and sparkling is a huge job, but somebody's got to do it. A 25-person "Mr. Clean Team" worked alongside the New York City Department of Sanitation and the Times Square Alliance on Jan. 1 to give the area a thorough scrub down following the massive New Year's celebration and they had some help thanks to one of Procter & Gamble's newest products. 

Digital coupons may get all the publicity, but SmartSource isn’t buying the hype as evidenced by what it said was a record-setting coupon drop on Sunday, January 5.

Parent company News America Marketing said the Sunday, January 5 edition of its SmartSource publication was the largest in its history with up to three inserts required in some markets to deliver up to 136 pages of coupons.

New research from NPD conducted during the 2013 holiday season suggests shoppers believe better deals are to be had online than in stores.

That not good news for retailers under relentless pressure to generate store traffic with all manner of urgency oriented promotions such as the ubiquitous one-day sale or other types of limited duration activities.

Seattle — More than one million customers around the world joined the Amazon Prime membership program in the third week of December. The entire 2013 holiday season was the best ever for Amazon, with more than 36.8 million items ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday, or 426 items per second.