Because there’s this widely held assumption that people should get the thing they desire most during the holidays, and because a lot of people desire the same things, some holiday shoppers will cross that line between naughty and nice to make sure they check certain items off their shopping lists. [More]
holiday shopping
Yes, People Will Strip To Their Underwear And Wait Outside In The Cold For Free Stuff
By 11.25.14
What would you do for the promise of a couple pieces of free clothing? Just think of all the college freshmen who signed away their financial futures by applying for credit cards at orientation (before such marketing was outlawed). A line of 100 or so shoppers in San Francisco may not have to worry about ruining their credit score, but photos of them shivering in their skivvies will probably follow them forever. [More]
Check Out Consumer Reports’ Interactive Gift Guide
November 25, 2014
Still don’t know what to get the people on your shopping list? Or maybe you haven’t decided what you should ask your loved ones to get you to demonstrate that they don’t hate you. Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have put together a fully interactive guide to this year’s most sought-after electronics, cars, exercise equipment, and more. [More]
Walmart Stores Once Again Asking Employees To Donate Food To Co-Workers In Need
By 11.20.14
Almost exactly a year ago, a Walmart in Ohio made headlines for an employee food drive intended to help support their fellow Walmart workers. Now come reports of additional stores rolling out the donation bins, showing that the retailers employees try to take care of one another while also spotlighting the question of whether or not Walmart is paying its associates sufficient wages. [More]
Reminder: Beware Of Deferred Interest Credit Card Offers This Holiday Season
By 11.18.14
Whether you shop online or at brick-and-mortar retailer this holiday season, you’ll undoubtedly be offered countless chances to save money with store-branded financing options offering “0% interest” for six, 12, 18 months. These can be incredibly tempting, but many people don’t realize they are often signing up for deferred interest accounts that can come back to bite you on the rear-end in a very nasty way. [More]
Barbie Girl Scout, Cartoon Network App, Mini Mall Lead This Year’s List Of Worst Toys
By 11.13.14
Like it or not, holiday shopping season is upon us. That means it’s time for sales, decorations, crowds, stress, and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s annual list of the year’s worst toys. [More]
RadioShack Revises Thanksgiving Plan, Will Give Workers Five Hour Break To Spend With Families
By 11.12.14
Yesterday, RadioShack announced that it would be opening at the early hour of 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, causing employees to complain about losing their holiday and many shoppers to ask why anyone would ever want to go to RadioShack at 8 a.m. ever. Now the Shack is changing its mind on that plan, but rather than simply opening later, the retailer will be closing for a few hours during the afternoon. [More]
Target Opens 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, Says Black-Friday-Like Deals Start This Week
By 11.10.14
Who needs to wait for Black Friday when you can apparently start racking up similar deals weeks in advance? Target joined other retailers like Walmart in announcing its holiday shopping plans, which include early access to deals and opening the doors at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving night. [More]
USPS Will Deliver Some Non-Amazon Packages On Sundays
By 11.6.14
Last year, Amazon.com began Sunday delivery in certain large cities, delighting customers who like to get their Amazon packages earlier, and delighting the United States Postal Service, which remains desperate for new sources of revenue. Apparently, we’re all doing so much shopping online that the USPS will be making more Sunday deliveries this year to spread out the burden of hauling things to our doorsteps. [More]
Forget Black Friday, Holiday Shopping Season Starts Tomorrow
By 10.31.14
While children and parents around the country are sitting around, regretting the huge amount of sugar and chocolate consumed tonight, the folks at Walmart, Amazon and other stores are not only busting out the holiday decorations, but reducing prices and offering short-term large-scale sales for early holiday shoppers. [More]
Walmart Might Begin Price-Matching Amazon, Other Online Retailers
By 10.30.14
It’s not uncommon for consumers to view items at a store and then purchase them for a lower price online. One of the nation’s largest retailers is apparently tired of losing those customers and may begin price-matching its online competition this holiday season; a trend retail analysts predicted less than a month ago. [More]
Most People Don’t Really Want Gift Cards This Holiday Season
By 10.30.14
Every year, the super-consultants at Deloitte LLP ask people whether they’re interested in receiving and giving any gift cards this holiday season. We used to love the concept: Back in 2007, 69% of people said that they were interested in receiving the plastic cash replacers. This year, that number is down to 37%. [More]
GameStop Decides To Give Employees The Day Off For Thanksgiving
By 10.29.14
GameStop is well known for often getting the jump on new video game releases by opening stores at midnight, so you might expect that the chain would be throwing open its doors as early as possible on Thanksgiving to get out ahead of the Black Friday competition. But today, the retailer announced that its workers won’t be enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner in between dealing with customers. [More]
PayPal Says That The Holiday Shopping Season Began On September 30th
By 10.29.14
Here at Consumerist, we’ve been complaining about Christmas Creep for the better part of a decade, but maybe it’s time to admit defeat. The American public has apparently accepted retailers’ efforts to force the holiday shopping season to begin even earlier. According to PayPal, Americans kicked off the unbridled commerce season sometime in the evening on September 30. [More]
Will You Avoid Data-Breached Retailers This Holiday Season?
By 10.20.14
The massive 2013 holiday data breach of Target, which siphoned off the personal and payment information for more than 100 million shoppers, provided an eye-opening moment for consumers who had previously assumed that this sort of ID theft mostly happened when shopping online. The Target debacle was followed by attacks on big-name businesses like Home Depot, Dairy Queen, P.F. Chang’s, Jimmy John’s, Kmart, and the Albertsons/Jewel-Osco/ACME, Shaw’s chains of supermarkets… twice. But will all these lapses in security actually drive shoppers elsewhere this holiday season? [More]
Looks Like 60″ TVs Might Be This Black Friday’s Big Doorbuster
By 10.7.14
We’re still a little bit away from retailers “leaking” their Black Friday ads, so no one can say with certainty what bottom-dollar deals the stores will be using to attract shoppers away from their Thanksgiving dinners. One prediction for this year’s holiday season kickoff claims that 60″ TVs are going to be the most tempting bait, but you might have a hard time actually snaring that super-low price. [More]
UPS Asks Retailers To Hold Holiday Sales Earlier, Avoid Ruining Christmas Again
By 10.3.14
Between bad weather and a surge in last-minute deliveries, the 2013 holiday season was a bit of a disaster for UPS. Some folks were left handing out apologies and rain checks at Christmas because the gifts they’d intended to give were still en route. This year, the shipper is asking retailers to help everyone avoid a repeat underwhelming performance. [More]
More Price-Matching, Better Staffing And Other Black Friday Predictions
By 10.2.14
It’s October, and those falling leaves and brisk temperatures can only mean one thing — that no professional baseball is being played here in Philadelphia. It also means that the official start of the holiday shopping season is a mere eight weeks away. [More]
