WALMART

WABAN, Mass. — Sam's Club has the most loyal customers, according to a new study by the Temkin Group. The report, "2012 Temkin Loyalty Ratings," rated the loyalty that consumers have to 206 large companies across 18 industries.

Only seven companies earned "very strong" loyalty ratings. In addition to the retailers listed above, credit unions and USAA earned the distinction. Sam’s Club had the most loyal customers across all industries, with a loyalty rating of 65%.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Mass merchandiser Sam's Club has made a deal with the pregnancy and parenting brand of an author who has signed on to write articles in its in-store magazine.

MINNEAPOLIS — Kantar Media on Wednesday reported that overall retailer advertising expenditures increased 1.6% and retailer participation in Free Standing Insert coupon promotion pages increased 30.7% over calendar year 2011, versus the corresponding year-ago period. Additionally, digital coupon events increased 40.4% during this period across the leading retailer websites monitored by Kantar Media.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart said Thursday it is continuing its annual tradition of increasing shareholder payout by raising its dividend by 9%.

Walmart will pay a quarterly dividend of 39.75 cents on April 4 to shareholders of record on March 12. That works out to $1.59 per share for the year. The company has increased its dividend every year since its first declared dividend in March 1974.

According to Walmart president and CEO Mike Duke, the company's U.S. business is back on track, and international results remain strong.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Sam's Club is taking its promotion of health-and-wellness solutions further by launching its own branded, bimonthly magazine.

Sam' Club said its 8-million member circulation magazine, Healthy Living Made Simple, is the first warehouse club publication solely dedicated to health-and-wellness issues. Topics covered by the publication include items related to personal, child and pet health. Future issues will spotlight local Sam’s Club pharmacists, optometrists and associates, as well as members’ stories, Sam's Club said.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Coupons.com on Thursday announced the appointment of Dawn Lepore, former chairman and CEO of Drugstore.com, to its board of directors.

“Dawn is a widely admired business leader and e-commerce trail blazer,” Coupons.com founder and CEO Steven Boal said. “Her leadership, expertise in building successful online businesses and experience as a board member of such companies as eBay, Walmart and The New York Times Co. will be a great asset to us as we continue to rapidly grow our business.”

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart’s U.S. stores division regained customer traffic during the fourth quarter to post a 1.5% same-store sales increase, and continues to gather momentum as familiar strategies and effective marketing are resonating with customers, the company said Tuesday morning in conjunction with the release of quarterly results.

DAYTON, Ohio — While Walmart maintained the No. 1 position on Interbrand's "U.S. Most Valuable Retail Brands" list for 2012, several other retailers are moving up the ranks.

Although Walmart touts a value that's more than $139 billion, this year also marked a 2% decrease for the big box retailer, Interbrand said. Second on this year's list was Target, which holds a value of $23 billion, a 1% increase over last year.