Content about Sales promotion

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy recently took "extreme couponing" to a new level, not to save money for customers, but to collect items for charity.

Diplomat sponsored a contest in which 12 employees competed to see who could buy the most food items and toiletries for local charities using only $25 and coupons. With $300, employees bought $2,160 worth of groceries, which will be donated to Flint, Mich.-based Carriage Town Ministries and St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center.

Programs incentivizing health care won't be effective if they're not intuitive and easy to use. That's why Medagate's MasterCard Dual Value Health Card, which enables employers and health plans to combine a member/employee healthcare funding purse with a restricted-spend purse for targeted items and incentives, is so important.

TORONTO — News Marketing Canada, the company behind the SmartSource brand of consumer savings products and services, has signed an exclusive agreement with Canadian pharmacy retailer Rexall to provide instant, print-at-home online coupons on Rexall.ca, the company has announced.

Rexall's website will feature coupons from the SmartSource.ca Online Coupon Network, as well as Rexall-exclusive coupons for a wide variety of grocery and drug brands. Coupons are available on rexall.ca, effective immediately.

NEW YORK — Rebates on healthy foods may lead patients to purchase them more frequently, according to a new study by researchers in South Africa.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined a program offered by Discovery, South Africa's largest health plan. The HealthyFood program provides a cash-back rebate of up to 25% on healthy food purchases in more than 400 designated supermarkets around the country.

NEW YORK — Meijer is ending double coupons at some of its stores in Michigan and Indiana, according to published reports.

A sign at a Meijer store in Jackson, Mich., shown in a photo posted on the bargain website bargainstobounty.com, read, "To keep our everyday prices low, we will no longer double coupons after 3/30/13. Enjoy even easier savings with digital coupons."

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Aisle411 last week announced their Indoor Location Geo-Fence Alerts API was being showcased in the Aisle411 Android application at Las Vegas-area Walgreens stores. 

LARGO, Fla. — A company that provides local print and digital coupons is partnering with a company that provides information for Hispanics.

Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, the coupon provider, said it would work with YaSabe.com to help users find Valpak coupons and special offers online from their mobile phones.

RetailMeNot.com, the largest online coupon site in the United States, has announced the launch of its newest iPhone Coupons app featuring location-specific coupons, as well as expiring and new coupon notifications. These new features will allow consumers to find hundreds of deals at nearby malls this year, making their holiday shopping that much easier.

NEW YORK — Global consumers' intent to buy food and beverages online has jumped 44% in two years, and more than one-quarter (26%) said they planned to purchase food and beverage products by way of a device with Internet access — such as a computer, mobile phone or tablet — in the next three to six months, according to Nielsen.

NEW YORK — A new network allows customers to use tablets to participate in customer loyalty programs, according to published reports.

MediaPost reported that SpotOn, a San Rafael, Calif.-based company that develops customer loyalty platforms, rolled out its network Friday, with about 1,500 independent and regional chain retailers; the network had previously been under development for more than a year. Most of the retailers are in the Atlanta area, Texas, Arizona, California and the Midwest, but that it's adding about 500 new ones per month.

Social media is an important component of ongoing brand marketing, as well as any advertising campaign for a drug store retailer or brand. Integrated communications have the most impact because earned, owned and paid media reinforce and amplify the message. All channels feed off each other; the more frequently a potential customer sees or hears about a brand or retailer, particularly in more than one context or venue, the more likely she is to remember and purchase.