Last week, new Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said the company needs to make online sales a priority, as the retailer continues losing market share to e-tailers like Amazon and Newegg. But if this morning’s scheduled sale is any indication, Best Buy is not ready to compete with the big boys and girls. [More]
holiday shopping
Study: Amazon Has Cheapest Toys Online [Cue Other Retailers Scrambling To Cut Prices]
By 11.14.12
In the retail world, it’s all about beating out the competition. And if you can offer the lowest prices and thus lure the most customers, well then you’re the winningest of all. A new analysis of retailers has come up with a big old carrot of motivation by saying Amazon has cheaper online prices for toys than major chains like Walmart and Target. Let the price wars begin, just in time for the holiday season. [More]
Moving Black Friday Up A Week Could Save Thanksgiving
By 11.13.12 — Updated: 11.13.15
We don’t know when the warm water finally started to boil, but it’s safe to say that Black Friday now begins shortly after dinner is served on Thanksgiving. But rather than continue to fight this trend, we think that the only way to restore Thanksgiving is to have Black Friday sales begin a weekend earlier. [More]
If You’re Going To Give Gift Cards, Consider Store-Branded Cards First
By 11.12.12
Gift cards have become an easy way to tell your family and friends, “I believe you merit a gift this holiday season but I would rather you just pick it out yourself.” But some cards have historically been bogged down with fees that chew away at the cards’ value until they are worth less than the plastic on which they’re printed. According to a new survey, your best bet at finding a fee-free gift card is to buy store-branded plastic. [More]
6 Holiday Gifts You’d Be Better Off Buying Some Other Time Of The Year
By 11.12.12
We’ve told you before that while there are plenty of sales on Black Friday, it is rarely the best day to get the lowest price on quality goods. But a new report claims that you’d be better off buying some common gift items outside of the holiday months. [More]
4 Black Friday Myths Debunked
By 10.22.12
Black Friday has grown from the day to kick off the holiday shopping season to a bizzaro holiday of its own, with people celebrating by cutting Thanksgiving dinner short to camp outside of a big box store to clamor for deep discounts that are gone by sunrise. During this evolution, Black Friday has also taken on its own mythology. [More]
Will Price-Matching Websites Just Result In More Angry Best Buy & Target Customers?
By 10.18.12
In the last week, both Target and Best Buy have each announced they will match prices on Amazon and other online retailers at their bricks and mortar stores. While the goal is to woo customers into retail stores by taking away the attractive discounts seen online, some wonder if this will result in ticked-off customers standing in line. [More]
Analyst: Best Buy Employees Feel The Most Threatened By Amazon
By 10.17.12
With the holiday shopping season looming on the horizon, and retailers wondering just how much of their business will be lost to Amazon and other online retailers, an analyst for Topeka Capital recently visited some of these bigger stores and came away concerned that their attempts to adapt to online competition might be too little, too late. [More]
Target Follows Best Buy’s Lead, Will Match Online Prices For Holidays
By 10.17.12
Less than a week after Best Buy announced it would be price-matching online competitors this holiday season, the folks at Target declared “us too!” and dove headfirst into the price-matching pond. [More]
Target Decides Mid-October Is The Perfect Time To Start Airing Holiday Ads
By 10.15.12
While most major retailers usually wait until Nov. 1 to start clogging the airwaves with a blitz of red and green commercials — and this year, many are waiting until after the election — the folks at Target have apparently just decided to embrace Christmas Creep to its fullest, launching its first holiday-themed ad over the weekend. [More]
Toys “R” Us Opening Mini Departments Inside 24 Macy’s Stores This Holiday Season
By 10.10.12
Toys “R” Us is going gangbusters this holiday season in its effort to be the go-to destination for parents seeking out the hottest toys, gadgets and gizmos for their little ones. Along with the amount of layaway business it’s targeting with its retooled program this year, Toys “R” Us said it will open 24 departments in Macy’s stores this holiday season. [More]
Target To Hire Fewer Seasonal Workers This Year
By 10.8.12
Target is in the middle of ramping up for the all-important holiday shopping season by hiring a slew of folks to slip on a red shirt for a few weeks, but the retailer says it expects to hire 2,000-12,000 fewer seasonal employees this year than it did in 2011. Target also says this shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. [More]
Another Study Confirms That Black Friday Isn’t Always The Best Day For Deals
By 10.8.12
Black Friday, that day after Thanksgiving which is now associated with people queuing up in the cold and dark to take advantage of marketing buzz words like “doorbuster” and “BOGO,” is always touted as a chance for consumers to save piles of cash at the store, but another study confirms what we’ve been telling you for years: Black Friday isn’t always the best time to buy. [More]
When You Can’t Find The Toy Your Kid Wants For Christmas, Blame Layaway
By 10.5.12
This holiday season, when your child looks up at you with tears welling in their eyes because they didn’t get that one toy they had really been hoping for, you can do two things: Tell him/her to grow the heck up and realize that you don’t always get everything you ask for, or blame all the parents who put toys on layaway in September and October. [More]
Toys 'R' Us Dangling The Holiday Shopping Carrot Of Free Layaway
By 9.4.12
If you’re into shopping really really early for the holidays — and there are only 111 days until Christmas — Toys ‘R’ Us is determined to woo you with a head start on layaway this year. Not only will the program start way ahead of the prime shopping season (as in right now), but layaway will be free for part of that time. [More]
Holiday Layaway Starting A Month Earlier This Year At Walmart, With A Few Changes
By 8.20.12
Walmart customers who rely on its layaway program to get all that holiday shopping done will surely be grateful for a little extra time this year to buy gifts and pay them off in time. The store announced that layaway will return a month earlier than it did last year, and tweaked a few of the program’s rules in the process. [More]
Survey: 13% Of Adults Have Already Given Into The Christmas Creep
By 7.23.12
It’s July 23. Have you begun your holiday shopping yet? According to a new survey, it’s likely that more than 1 out of every 8 of you is answering yes to that question. [More]
UPS Won't Budge On Refunds For Packages That Didn't Make Guaranteed Christmas Delivery In Colorado
By 12.28.11
There are several thousand irritated UPS customers in the Denver area this week. They paid for UPS’ guaranteed pre-Christmas delivery but Big Brown was unable to make good on its promise and 50,000 packages didn’t make it under the tree in time. Now UPS is saying these customers will not be getting refunds because the delay was snow-related. [More]
