The recall earlier this month of a line of inflatable pool slides sold at Walmart and Toys 'R' Us following the death of one woman and devastating injuries to two others highlights the stakes when it comes to product safety. But with history as a guide, the dangers of the Banzai Inflatable Pool Slides will be ignored or dismissed by most of those who have one. Here are 10 dangerous products, all of which have been recalled, that you might still have in your home.
Americans spent an unexpected $52 billion over Black Friday weekend, and now it’s becoming clear how we managed to afford this shopping spree: we charged it. New Federal Reserve data shows that consumer borrowing surged by $20.4 billion in November — the highest month-over-month increase in a decade. Retailers’ happy holidays are coming at the [...]
Being able to hold things before we buy them makes us more satisfied with our purchases.
Retailers and restaurants love gift cards—so much so that they load them with bonus cash in order to sell more cards. This makes total sense once you realize how often gift cards aren’t used at all, and how all those cards add up to billions of dollars in profits.
Are you stashing the credit card bills under the junk mail because you’re afraid to see how much you spent over the holidays? Surveys from USA Today and Consumer Reports reveal that we were on track to charge roughly 7% more on credit cards this holiday season. That might not sound like a big increase, [...]
For most employees, Monday means time to get back to the workaday grind. And it looks like retail therapy is often the prescription consumers use to cope with a “case of the Mondays.” The first day of the workweek is also almost always the biggest day of the week for online shopping — even after [...]
During the holidays, it’s expected that clothing, electronics, gift cards and, of course, toys will be hot sellers. But guns? I suppose many of them would fit nicely into a stocking. But still.
Especially around the holidays, retailers love to coin names for gimmicky sales events—Green Monday and Cyber Week, to name a couple examples. Funny: So far, no one has come up with an official name for this week, which is expected to be the year’s busiest period for returning online purchases, coming on the heels of [...]
Here’s a look back at the frantic holiday shopping season that’s just passed—and that, among other things, reached a high point for self-gifting, shoplifting, free shipping, and procrastination. Without further adieu, this holiday season’s top 10 shopping trends.
What with exchanges and shoppers eager to redeem gift cards, the day after Christmas is always a busy one for retailers. For a variety of reasons, including that December 26 falls on a Monday this year, retailers anticipate a banner day for sales.
The group most responsible for dollar stores’ soaring popularity is one you might not expect: wealthy shoppers.
