Less than a month after Kohl’s said it would join the throngs of other retailers dipping their toes in the world of same-day delivery, the company plans to expand its pilot service to six more cities just in time for the start of the holiday shopping season. [More]
holiday shopping
GameStop Proudly Announces It Will Not Sell You Video Games On Thanksgiving
By 10.12.15
If you wanted to get away from your family this Thanksgiving and buy video games and/or video game accessories, you’ll have to do it somewhere other than GameStop. The chain announced today that it will not be open on Nov. 26. [More]
FedEx & UPS Sticking With High Fuel Surcharges Even As Gas Prices Drop
By 10.6.15
Even as prices for both diesel gasoline and jet fuel have dropped, the country’s two largest parcel shippers have remained steadfast in maintaining surcharges that will make it more expensive for businesses to fulfill online orders this holiday season. [More]
Retailers Prepare To Fight Holiday Shoppers And Each Other To Not Offer Discounts
By 10.5.15
Retailers really, really want to wean American shoppers off our recession-era addiction to discounts. Will it be possible for them to resist the temptation to slap “40% off” signs everywhere to attract customers? Retail forecasts for this holiday season show that retailers want to avoid selling products at a discount, while consumers plan to make their shopping decisions according to price. [More]
Kmart Expands Layaway Program, Hopes You’ll Trust Them This Year
By 9.10.15
Layaway is a very simple transaction: you pick out an item, a store puts it aside, and you make payments on it until you’ve paid it off and you can bring it home. It was a dying retail tradition when tightening credit markets and a massive recession led stores, notably discount retailers Kmart and Walmart, to bring it back. This year, Kmart wants customers who may no longer have a local store to use layaway plans to buy holiday gifts. [More]
Walmart Opens Holiday Layaway Program Two Weeks Early, Reduces Minimum Cost For Eligible Items
By 8.27.15
Thinking about getting a jump on your holiday shopping? So is Walmart, apparently. The company announced today that it will open its seasonal layaway program early and lower the price for eligible items. [More]
UPS Making It More Expensive For Retailers To Ship Your Large Purchases
By 6.16.15
When online retailers like Amazon began making a big splash with free or discounted shipping, a lot of what customers bought were books, DVDs, video games — items that didn’t take up much room. But now people are buying TVs, refrigerators, grills, furniture, and other large items online, and UPS is apparently tired of giving retailers a discount on these shipments. [More]
Walmart Loses Customer’s Black Friday Order, Tells Her To Re-Order At Full Price
By 12.24.14
We know that mistakes happen and things occasionally get lost in shipping, especially when you’re talking about the world’s largest retailer during the year’s busiest shopping season. But if a retailer admits to misplacing your order, it shouldn’t try to cash in on its own screw-up by charging you more than you had already paid. [More]
3 Tips For Snagging A Parking Spot During The Holiday Shopping Rush
By 12.18.14
For those shoppers scrambling to finish up their holiday shopping for the next week, there may be times when — gasp! — they must leave their homes and visit brick-and-mortar stores or malls. Those people are most definitely dreading the idea of finding parking, but you can make it a bit easier on yourself by keeping a few tips in mind. [More]
Walmart Slashes Prices On iPhone 6 To $129, 6 Plus To $229
By 12.11.14
If you have been meaning to buy yourself or a loved one a new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus but haven’t managed to get around to plunking down the cash for it, your procrastination has paid off. Walmart has cut prices on these devices to $129 and $229, respectively, for customers willing to sign up for a two-year contract with AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. [More]
Kohl’s Stores Will Stay Open For 100 Hours Straight Leading Up To Christmas
By 12.9.14
Nothing says Christmas spirit like the constant neon glow of an open department store’s lights: Starting Dec. 19, Kohl’s says most of its stores will remain open for 100 hours straight leading up to Christmas. [More]
Most Of The Stuff You Want For Christmas Will Be Cheaper After Christmas
By 12.9.14
What’s on your wish list this holiday season? Without even looking, we’re guessing that clothing, home electronics, fitness equipment, and computers are on lots of folks’ lists. But if you’re looking to actually save money on these items, maybe it’s best to wait until after Dec. 25 to open your gifts. [More]
BabyFirst/AT&T U-Verse iPad App Named Worst Toy Of 2014
By 12.8.14
A year after the combination potty/iPad stand took home an award for Worst Toy of the Year, an app from BabyFirst and AT&T U-Verse that your youngsters could use while pottying on last year’s winner has been crowned the worst for 2014. [More]
Secret Santa Gifts $15K To Pay For Strangers’ Walmart Layaway Items
By 12.5.14
It’s that time of year again, when generous folks around the country pop in to their local retailers and plunk down a pile of cash to make strangers’ holidays happier by paying for their layaway purchases. This time, some secret Santa in Ohio left a substantial $15,000 gift under shoppers’ trees. [More]
Retailers Took More Than 3 Minutes To Answer Customer Service Calls On Cyber Monday
By 12.2.14
While not as many people went shopping over the weekend as they did during last year’s holiday, retailers still sold billions of dollars worth of stuff in just a few days, and some of that stuff was damaged or otherwise required calls to customer service. But not every seller was terribly eager or prepared to deal with the onslaught of phone calls. [More]
Spending & Retail Traffic Down From Last Year’s Black Friday Weekend
By 12.1.14
Many retailers and websites got a very early jump on the Black Friday shopping weekend this year, not just by being open on Thanksgiving but by holding pre-holiday sales and deals. As you might expect, this appears to have had the effect of taking some of the wind out of the sails of all the sales over the weekend. [More]
Price Of Doing 12 Days Of Christmas Up 1%, Will Now Cost $116K
By 12.1.14
A year ago, the annual cost of acquiring all the gifts enumerated in the classic, if irritating, carol “The 12 Days of Christmas,” added up to a record $114,000. The latest numbers are in and the good news is that things haven’t changed that much; the not-so-good news is that you probably don’t have $116,000 to toss away on the lark of making the song’s lyrics manifest. [More]
Best Buy Website Goes Down On One Day Of Year It Shouldn’t
By 11.28.14
We’re hearing lots of complaints about the website for electronics retailer Best Buy being down, and multiple news outlets are confirming that BestBuy.com is unresponsive nationwide. [More]
