sales

Black Friday, the Super Bowl of the holiday shopping season, is upon us. Deal pros cut through the barrage of bargain-hunting tips with a pared down -- and doorbuster-free -- list of simple ways to save during the shopping blitz.

If you're in the market for a new television, you'd be wise to scoop up one of the sweet deals that will be available for the rest of 2011. TV manufacturers and retailers are desperate to unload inventory, so HDTVs, Internet-connected TVs and 3-D TVs will be going at deeply discounted prices.

Setting a new holiday shopping tradition, Macy's and Target will swing open their doors at midnight on Black Friday for the first time ever, giving shoppers a jump start on door-buster sales while offering an implicit challenge to their fellow retail brethren to follow suit.

From Nov. 1 until Christmas, Walmart says it will match prices with its rivals retroactively. Buy now, and if anyone advertises an identical product for a better price, go back to Walmart and claim a refund for the difference. But of course there's a catch -- more than one, in fact.

'Tis the season to buy tech products -- almost. If you're looking to upgrade, it's probably best to wait till Black Friday. Computers, high-end smartphones, HDTVs and tablets will see sharp discounts for the holidays.

Shopping at Walmart is your guilty pleasure, but would you share with your Facebook friends which store in the chain is your very favorite? The world's biggest retailer hopes you will, and it's launching more than 3,500 store-specific Facebook pages to connect shoppers with what's happening in their local aisles.

From piping in the smell of fresh-baked bread to making you wait in artificially long lines, your local supermarket works hard to get you to spend. Here's how to rise above the temptations.

The National Retail Federation is forecasting a less cheerful holiday season for America's stores, which means shoppers can expect to scoop up big discounts as retailers work harder to get cash registers ringing. But if you want the hottest gifts, you might want to buy early.

As America prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, eBay is seeing a surge in sales of relics and memorabilia from the World Trade Center and the terrorist attacks, fueled partly by speculators, and partly by our desire to connect with history, however painful.

Consumers who don't feel good about their body image are less likely to purchase something they try on if they see an attractive shopper wearing the same thing, according to a study in the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.