This holiday season, Sears and Kmart are offering free layaway and Shop Your Way loyalty savings programs in a bid to connect with financially strapped shoppers. Company president Ron Boire sat down with DailyFinance.
Toys R Us is the latest retailer planning to ramp up seasonal hiring this holiday. But just-released sales forecasts on the busiest shopping season of the year raise the question: Will all those added store associates be kept busy?
Many retailers are reporting solid sales gains for December, capping a decent holiday season, but shoppers bent on discounts exacted a high price.
Last minute shoppers gave merchants a solid lift during the final week before Christmas, according to a report from a mall trade group Wednesday. Revenue at stores open at least a year rose 0.9 percent for the week ended Saturday compared with the previous week.
U.S. shoppers spent 15 percent more in online holiday buying compared to last year, after what may have been the busiest week of the season, said research firm comScore on Sunday. Shoppers have spent $30.9 billion online from Nov. 1 through Dec. 16, up from $26.9 billion at the same point last year, said the Reston, Va., company, which tracks Web use.
Buy Nothing Christmas and groups like it are on a mission to recast the holidays so that they're richer in meaning, smaller in environmental impact and greater in giving to people less privileged. They also aim to expose the downside of an economy largely reliant on consumer purchases. It's an idea whose time has come.
With the final Christmas countdown begun, the National Retail Federation has upgraded its holiday sales forecast, reflecting growing optimism that much more spending is to come. The NRF now expects holiday sales to rise 3.8% to a record $469.1 billion. That's up from its more modest 2.8 percent forecast made in early October, though it's hardly stellar.
When Emily Russell's sons wake up on Christmas morning, they'll find that Santa left them a note instead of the videogames they requested. Some people have always postponed Christmas celebrations because their jobs don't pause for the holiday. But in the weak economy, folks are delaying Christmas for another reason: money.
Americans spent more on autos, furniture and clothing at the start of the crucial holiday shopping season, boosting retail sales for a sixth straight month. Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in November, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
Retailers are so desperate this holiday season that they're willing to lose money to get you to spend yours. Not every retailer will go as far as giving away merchandise during the holidays -- although some are doing just that -- but many will offer profit-busting incentives.
The holiday shopping season is looking pretty bleak for retailers. Best Buy recently announced that it plans to hire fewer holiday workers than it did last year, and now new data from the consumer research group NPD suggests that Best Buy won't be the only chain stuck in a holiday sales rut.
It's hard not to sound like the Grinch these days: As we head into the holiday season, unemployment remains painfully high, and August 2011 saw a 47% increase in layoffs compared to last year, with no growth in hiring. Poverty stats are equally dismal, with the cost of living rising. Here's how retailers are responding.
More customers will fraudulently return merchandise to stores this holiday season than last year, the National Retail Federation predicts. It expects the return of stolen goods and used merchandise will cost retailers nearly $3.7 billion, up 34% from $2.7 billion during the holiday season last year.
Online sales during the holiday season are likely to exceed their 2009 levels as shoppers shift away from shopping at some brick-and-mortar operations such as electronics and warehouse stores, said market research firm The NPD Group in a report Wednesday.
