Still don’t know what to do with all those gift cards you got for the holidays? United Airlines will now take them off your hands in exchange for frequent flyer miles.
Many of us rushed out to take advantage of the countless “holiday shopping events” around Thanksgiving weekend. Now, we’re slinking back to those same stores — except this time, we want our money back.
A multiple Christmas tree trend is being pushed by (you guessed it) the folks in the business of selling Christmas trees.
This year, many national stores have made Black Friday longer than a day, with extended sale hours that start on Thursday. The idea is: If something works, then more of it will work better. But does this actually make sense?
More than nine in ten online retailers say that they’ll offer complimentary shipping on purchases during the holiday shopping season.
There are reasons that layaway went away. As more Americans gained access to credit, most stores got rid of layaway plans, which allow customers to pay off big purchases over the course of a few weeks or months. Stores preferred shoppers to use plastic because the swiping of a credit card was much simpler than [...]
Back-to-school shopping is barely behind us, so it might seem premature to start thinking about holiday shopping (despite the fact that some retailers are rolling out holiday merchandise in their stores this month). But the reality is, you should.
It doesn’t seem to matter that September is closer to Christmas in July than actual Christmas, or that back-to-school shopping has barely ended, or that Halloween and Thanksgiving shopping have barely begun. With retailers’ quest to continually expand the winter holiday shopping season, you’re bound to see stockings, ornaments, and outdoor Santa displays any day [...]
Consumer activity gives a good indication of how the economy is holding up, and here are five trends indicating that consumers are having a particularly hard time lately.
“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.
Go big, or go out of business. Time and again over the last few years, retailers have resorted to big discounts as a reliable means to move merchandise and boost sales figures. In some cases, raising prices is accomplishing the same goal.
