Word: discount
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Marshall Cohen, chief retail analyst at NPD Group, sees the Black Friday glass as half-full rather than half-empty. "The fact that retailers were able to sell as much, if not more, product at a 40% discount, compared with last year's 75% storewide discount, was positive," says Cohen...
Davidowitz speculates that the frugal tone will pressure retailers to discount earlier and possibly deeper than originally planned over the next few weeks. "I think many of them will reassess their numbers and determine that more promotions are in order," says Davidowitz. "That will be particularly true in department stores," where women's apparel has been weak, he says...
...lure of cheap goods, though, is incredibly strong, even once we've reached the point of substantial creature comfort. In her book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, writer Ellen Ruppel Shell devotes the better part of two chapters to how inexpensive goods mess with our minds. She describes one experiment in which researchers used brain scans to show that the joy of a discounted item comes before it's bought; by the time a person is at home with his new thing, the luster is gone. On Black Friday, I watched shoppers on TV proudly state how much...
...consumers plan to spend the same or less on gifts this year than they did in 2008. The survey, which polled about 3,500 people nationwide in early November, found that 60% of consumers plan to spend less on gifts, and 55% say they'll wait for deep discount sales and specials before opening their pocketbooks. More than half say they plan to buy less-expensive merchandise than a year ago, and 52% say they'll give gifts to fewer people. "This is a fundamental shift," says Bryan Eshelman, managing director at AlixPartners LP. (See pictures of people shopping...
...also find a flurry of deals for both husbands and wives online. On the discount site Couponcabin.com, Ann Taylor is offering $50 off any $150-or-higher Web purchase through Jan. 5. You can get free shipping for Hammacher Schlemmer products over $89. Then there are the gifts that both Mom and Dad can enjoy. Restaurant.com, for example, is offering 50% gift certificates. Get a babysitter and leave the kids at home. More consumers are searching for deals: on PriceGrabber.com, the number of shoppers requesting e-mail alerts for low-priced offers...