It’s that time of year again. To drum up holiday sales, retailers are once again taking creative license with the term “Black Friday”, and national chains are dishing out bonuses to fuel gift card purchases (think $5 bonus card when you buy a $25 card) that’ll wind up in stockings and awkward Secret Santa office parties. Why is putting …
Walmart
Black Friday Starts on Thursday This Year at Walmart
Leave it to Walmart to one-up the competition. During the winter holiday season, the retail giant has a history of starting price wars over things like books and DVDs, and pushing the envelope with free shipping offers and …
Would You Bank at Walmart?
Americans fed up with big bank fees are closing their accounts and marching over to … Walmart? It’s true; the mega-retailer has been steadily growing its services for the unbanked, such as cashing checks and selling reloadable …
3 Deals Aimed at Attracting Shoppers for the Entire Holiday Season
It’s not even Halloween yet. Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally when the winter holiday shopping season actually kicks off—is weeks away. All in all, it seems early for retailers to even be launching …
Attention Online Shoppers: No Reason to Pay for Shipping this Holiday Season
Last year, retailers resorted not only to the usual price wars to keep up with the competition, but battled it out with competing free shipping offers on holiday season purchases. Consumers can expect more free shipping …
Christmas Price Guarantee: Walmart’s New Move to Reel in Holiday Shoppers
It’s happened to everyone: You buy a holiday gift, and soon regret making the purchase because the same item later appears on sale for a fraction of the price. With Walmart‘s new holiday season price-matching promotion, shoppers …
Layaway: Worse Than Using a Credit Card?
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 …
Walmart Extends 10¢ Discount on Gas Through the Winter Shopping Season
Over the summer, while gas prices remained stubbornly high, Walmart introduced a new promotion aimed to lessen the financial burden of driving to, well, Walmart, among other places. The promotion, which knocked a dime off the price of a gallon of gas, was supposed to expire at the end of September. But now Walmart’s extended the offer …
3 Ways to Save for the Holidays Now (and Why You Should)
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 …
The Christmas Shopping Season Now Starts … in September?
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 …
How Consumers Are Coping: Layaway, More Gardens and Pet Adoptions
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.
Retailers with the Best (and Worst) Return Policies
At the retail store, most sales staffers are understandably focused on the sale, not the return policy. So it’s often totally up to the consumer to investigate where the store’s policies fall on the spectrum from downright stingy …