holiday shopping

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Retailers Await Last-Minute Gift From Shoppers

Procrastinators find big sales, long lines

(Newser) - Last-minute shoppers navigated long lines over the final pre-Christmas weekend, nudging retailers toward the modest growth in sales they’d expected. Deep discounts cut into profits, but retailers like Macy's and Kmart stayed open around the clock to accommodate shoppers, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The procrastinators finally got...

Retailers Slash Prices to Boost Slumping Season

Plagued by high gas and food prices, shoppers hold out for bargains

(Newser) - Retailers slashed prices nationwide this weekend in a bid to draw last-minute shoppers and lift a slumping holiday season, Bloomberg reports. Pressed by high gas and food prices, consumers are holding out for zero-hour deals; retailers have obliged with half-off sales and extra hours, counting on the last days before...

Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q
Best Buy
Profit Soars
52% in 3Q
Dec 18, 2007 12:21 PM CST

Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q

Less discounting helps retail giant best expectations

(Newser) - A consumer hankering for big-ticket items—and a willingness to pay closer to full price for them—helped Best Buy's third-quarter profit rise 52%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Absent last year's discounting on flat-screen TVs, the country's largest electronics chain posted Q3 net income of $228 million, or 53...

Ho-Hum Season Sees Drop in Women's Apparel Sales

With less money to spend on family, women pull back on purchasing for themselves

(Newser) - Women's spending on apparel for the first half of the Christmas season is down, alarming retailers and spawning broad worry in the industry. Experts blame a bleak economy and blah fashions for a slump of nearly 6% compared with a year ago, reports the New York Times. Men’s clothing...

Holiday E-Commerce Still Suffers Growing Pains

Net surfing window shoppers blamed for crashes, meltdowns

(Newser) - As online retailers post record sales this year, holiday e-commerce meltdowns show that stores still don't have the kinks ironed out of their sites. Despite increased capacity on retail sites, crashes such as Sears.com's eight-hour Black Friday crash and Yahoo Shopping's 10-hour Cyber Monday outage continue to plague holiday...

Guaranteed Wii ... Come January
Guaranteed Wii ... Come January
Dec 14, 2007 6:25 PM CST

Guaranteed Wii ... Come January

Nintendo, GameStop to offer rain check on video-game console

(Newser) - Kids hoping to score a Nintendo Wii this Christmas might have to settle for a skimpy rain check instead, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nintendo has completely sold out of its popular video-game console and won't be shipping any new units until January. Instead, buyers can reserve systems with full-price...

Wii Remains Hottest Seller for Holidays

1 million units gone in a flash last month as shoppers get creative

(Newser) - Nintendo’s Wii remained the hottest-selling—and hardest to find—game console in the US in November as shoppers snapped up nearly 1 million units, Reuters reports. Shoppers desperate for holiday presents have been standing in line at stores more than 14 hours to get a crack at one, and...

Omaha Mall Reopens Under Heavy Security

Van Maur store, where the shooter opened fire, remains closed

(Newser) - The Omaha mall where 19-year-old Robert Hawkins unleashed his killing spree re-opened for business today under tighter security, the AP reports. “I came in here and I was wondering how I would feel about it,” the mayor said, “but I feel fine.” The Von Maur store...

By Any Means Necessary: Buying a Wii

Shoppers explore varied strategies to get Nintendo's rare console

(Newser) - The holiday-season shortage of Nintendo’s Wii console is fostering some creative  shopping strategies, shared on a number of websites devoted to tracking down the device, the Washington Post reports. One advises Wii hopefuls not to ask store employees when the next shipment will arrive—instead, ask when the last...

Good Wii Hunting!
Good Wii Hunting!
Dec 5, 2007 4:05 AM CST

Good Wii Hunting!

Tips for savvy shoppers trying to track down elusive console

(Newser) - Know where to go. Know the right people to talk to. Most importantly, get up early! Demand for the Nintendo Wii is going to far outstrip supply for the second Christmas in a row and Wired has some tips for people determined to track one down. Nintendo has stoked up...

Screw G.I. Joe and Barbie, Gimme an iPod

Tech toys fly off the shelves, as young kids imitate grown up gadget lovers

(Newser) - Toddlers are getting their geek on, thanks to the rash of technological toys flying off the shelves this Christmas. The long-stagnant toy industry has found a growing market in kiddie versions of grown-up gadgets like laptops and digital cameras, the Times reports. “Toy companies don’t even call it...

'Cyber Monday' Breaks Records
'Cyber Monday' Breaks Records
Nov 28, 2007 6:29 AM CST

'Cyber Monday' Breaks Records

Online shopping's biggest day rose 21%, to $733M; purchases made mostly from work

(Newser) - Online sales on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, soared 21% over the previous year to a record-breaking $733 million, Marketwatch reports. Some 60% of the purchases were made from work, say comScore analysts; the average dollars spent per buyer decreased 12% from the same day a year earlier.

Done With Black Friday? Here Comes Cyber Monday

Online retailers offer big discounts to kickoff holiday shopping

(Newser) - Black Friday has worked out pretty well for brick-and-mortar retailers, but for their online counterparts the action is on Cyber Monday. Tomorrow, 75% of online retailers will have special promotions, CNNMoney reports, up from 43% two years ago. It’s not actually the biggest online shopping day of the year,...

Black Friday as Bargain Hunt
Black Friday as Bargain Hunt
Nov 24, 2007 7:17 AM CST

Black Friday as Bargain Hunt

Thrifty shoppers crowd malls nationwide

(Newser) - On the traditional first day of the Christmas season, shoppers swarmed stores, as always, but the mood was less festive than anxious, reports the New York Times, as consumers flocked to discount chains, and hunted down bargains. Beset by worries about gas prices, adjustable-rate mortgages, and a skittish stock market,...

Retail Leads Black Friday Rally
Retail Leads Black Friday Rally
MARKETS
Nov 23, 2007 2:34 PM CST

Retail Leads Black Friday Rally

Wal-Mart, Target, JC Penney all gain; Citigroup rebounds

(Newser) - Stocks rose in an abbreviated session today, cutting losses for the week as early-bird Christmas shopping gave reason for optimism. "The fact that Black Friday is not a disaster and is off to a modest but healthy start is just a relief,'' one analyst told Bloomberg. The Dow...

Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers
Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers
Nov 23, 2007 10:38 AM CST

Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers

Online shoppers get jump on Black Friday sales, to the delight of merchants

(Newser) - Cyberspace may be this year’s favorite holiday destination as shoppers looking for bargains and trying to escape crowds eschew traditional brick-and-mortar malls for a cornucopia of retail opportunities online, reports Reuters. Retailers from Apple to Wal-Mart offered some of their best deals online starting Thursday, trumping the traditional Black...

$3 Gas Fuels Retail Worries
$3 Gas
Fuels Retail Worries
Nov 6, 2007 8:02 AM CST

$3 Gas Fuels Retail Worries

Prices at pump hit milestone again, first time since July

(Newser) - Gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon for the first time since mid-July, prompting worries about a consumer pullback as the US heads into the holiday shopping season and cold weather increases energy demands, reports USA Today. It’s the first time gas prices, up 80 cents from a year ago...

Holiday Price Wars Erupt Even Earlier

Retailers compete to draw shoppers as economy sags

(Newser) - No need to wait until the day after Thanksgiving: your Black Friday deal may already be out there waiting. Retailers are launching their assault on shoppers’ wallets even earlier this year, reports CNN Money. “This is probably the earliest that we're seeing the price wars," said consultant George...

Economic Woes Sink Retail Sales
Economic
Woes Sink
Retail Sales
Oct 23, 2007 6:08 PM CDT

Economic Woes Sink Retail Sales

Consumers could see lower prices this holiday season

(Newser) - With the holiday shopping season set to kick off, retailers are lowering prices on thousands of items to clear space for seasonal products, cutting into profits and producing the worst drop in week-to-week sales since May, Bloomberg reports. US retail sales for the week ending Oct. 20 fell 1.5%...

Forecasts Down after Gloomy September for Retailers

Nordstrom et al. may have a blue, blue Xmas

(Newser) - Gloomy September reports led retailers to lower third-quarter forecasts, the New York Times reported today. With the exception of Wal-Mart—which raised profit forecasts slightly—big chain stores performed below expectations in September. Among the culprits are the credit crunch, warm weather and unflattering comparisons to last September. Even Wal-Mart...

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