A new study reveals that people who shop at Amazon, Costco, Publix, and Nordstrom are among the happiest consumers of late. Walmart and Netflix customers, on the other hand, aren’t particularly pleased.
More than nine in ten online retailers say that they’ll offer complimentary shipping on purchases during the holiday shopping season.
Maybe Starbucks doesn’t realize that many economists are forecasting a double-dip recession. Or maybe they just don’t realize that people don’t like stains on their shirts.
Nordstrom used to offer online shoppers free shipping—if (and this is a big if) they ordered at least $200 worth of merchandise. But the high-end retailer just announced it is joining the ranks of L.L. Bean and Zappos, which provide no-strings-attached, totally free shipping on all Internet purchases, no matter if the order is for [...]
The ninth circle of customer service hell usually begins with a phone call looped through a maddeningly automated system known as IVR (Interactive Voice Response)—you know, the one in which you “Press 1 to continue in English” and “Listen closely to our list of options, as they may have changed.” Turns out, not all Internet [...]
“Would you like the receipt in the bag, or in your email in-box?” Increasingly, this is the question shoppers are being asked at checkout at stores like Sears, Anthropologie, Whole Foods, and Gap.
For a while, it looked like cashiers would keep disappearing and self-checkout would become ubiquitous. But retailers—supermarkets especially—are falling out love with self-checkout. They still love trying to tempt shoppers into impulse purchases and gather customer e-mail addresses at checkout, though.
The recession and its long-lingering effects may be at least partly responsible for why your child is enrolled in public school, your lawyer is depressed, and your husband is cheating on you.
Saks, Neiman Marcus, and other luxury retailers manipulate demand by limiting supply—thereby creating a situation that allows them to keep prices high.
Is the recession over? It doesn’t really matter. Retailers and manufacturers realize that frugality will be the rule at least for the near future, and they’re trying to figure out how to reach the newly cautious, newly vigilant consumer.
The best part: All of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. The Big Bundle, as this special offer is being called, includes gift cards and certificates to vendors like Papa Johns and ShoeBuy.com, subscriptions to services such as Zagat.com, and discount coupons to retailers like The Gap and Nordstrom. The value totals just [...]
