Survey: Worries over Fiscal Cliff Affecting Consumer Spending
Brand X Pictures/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The approach of the fiscal cliff may be taking a bite out of consumer spending during the busiest shopping weeks of the year. A new poll from Bankrate.com says Americans’ ratings of their financial security is d…
Fab.com: How Social Media, Apps and Cool Stuff Created One of the Hottest Online Stores
Fab.com(NEW YORK) — Fab.com in New York City is an up and coming online shopping site.If you hadn’t heard of Fab before you saw this story, chances are you would have soon. The site has gone from one million users to 10 million in just 18 months.So wh…
Gift Guide: 5 Fun, Funky Gifts for the Pop Culture Lover in Your Life
Fab.com(NEW YORK) — Sure, you could get your Spielberg-loving grandparent the Jaws DVD, or give the Gaga-phile in your life a box set. But why not gift them with something they probably wouldn’t find on their own?Marilyn iPhone Case by Incase – …
Are Retailers Promoting Too Many Discounts?
Jack Hollingsworth/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — There’s just two more weekends to go before Christmas and the bargain discounts at the mall continue, as retailers use promotions to get shoppers into stores.But as Raechel Jackson, the director at Simon-Kuche…
Dollar Store, Inc.: The Booming Business of Being Cheap
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Retailers ring up as much as 40 percent of the entire year’s sales between Black Friday and Christmas day. But there is one segment of stores that skips the holiday hoopla: Dollar stores. …
Starbuck Gift Cards Valuing $450 Sell Out Online
Starbucks(NEW YORK) — Starbucks made 5,000 special edition etched steel $450 gift cards to be sold only on the luxury website Gilt.com, according to USA Today. The cards went on sale on Friday and sold out instantly.Potential customers were outraged a…
Retailers Feeling Pressure for Longer Store Hours, as Macy’s Announces 48-Hour Openings
Bloomberg News Photo by Diane Bondareff(NEW YORK) — Macy’s announced most of its stores will be open continuously in the 48 hours leading up to Christmas Eve, some 65 hours straight, putting pressure on other retailers to expand their own hours or pro…
Thieves Eye Luxury Goods During Holiday Season
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Shoppers are not the only ones looking for things to buy during the holiday season; thieves are on the hunt too. Police say people are out to re-sell luxury stolen goods or to enjoy them for personal use.Early …
Thieves Eye Luxury Goods During Holiday Season
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Shoppers are not the only ones looking for things to buy during the holiday season; thieves are on the hunt too. Police say people are out to re-sell luxury stolen goods or to enjoy them for personal use.Early …
Teen Starts Campaign for Gender Neutral Easy Bake Oven
ABC News(NEW YORK) — Like most four year olds, Gavin Pope knows what he wants for Christmas — a dinosaur and an Easy Bake Oven.But the budding chef and his 13-year-old sister McKenna, weren’t thrilled to find out the only colors the Hasbro…
Top 5 Nominees for 2012′s Worst Toy
Amazon(NEW YORK) — Toys, toys, toys. Advertisements inundate store catalogs and television commercials. Parents watching their budgets or closet space may not be thrilled, and neither is a consumer group called the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Child…
LeBron, New York Knicks Top NBA Jersey Sales
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Reigning MVP LeBron James has the best-selling jersey in the NBA, and the New York Knicks rank first in team sales for the first time in nearly a decade.The rankings, which cover sales at the NBA’s website a…
Retail Foot Traffic Rose 8.2% over Thanksgiving Weekend
Sean Gallup/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — It will almost certainly take several weeks for the retail industry to know if they can celebrate a rise in holiday sales. But ShopperTrak, a firm that analyzes customer traffic, is out with its estimates.The…
Buyers May Find Better Deals on Store’s Websites
Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Before you head out to a retail store to buy that item you’ve had your heart set on, you may want to check the price listed on the retailer’s website to ensure you get the best deal.”There have always been some compan…
Amazon Leads Online Sales Boom on Cyber Monday
Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Cyber Monday online sales were up 28 percent compared with a year ago, according to IBM Benchmark. And much of this was fueled by one company: Amazon.The retail powerhouse is — by far — the bi…
$1,200 a Life: Clothing Company Pays Peanuts to Families of Factory Fire Victims
STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — A company that makes clothes for Sean Combs’ clothing brand ENYCE and other U.S. labels reassured investors that a factory fire that killed 112 people over the weekend would not harm its balance sheet, and also pl…
Department Store Mannequins Are Watching You. No, Really.
Almax(NEW YORK) — A well-dressed, picture-perfect mannequin stands still in a middle of a department store. She looks like any other life-size figure you’ve seen in stores for so long, except she can see and hear.No, she isn’t Kim Catrall and, no, we’…
Cyber Monday Deals Lure More Shoppers on Mobile Devices
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Early estimates of Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, showed sales may reach $2 billion, and a growing portion of that may come from the pockets of a record number of mobile shoppers.As of 2 p…
From Click to Delivery: Inside Amazon’s Cyber Monday Strategy
Digital Vision / Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The inner world of Amazon looks like a bustle of conveyor belts and bargains on Cyber Monday.Amazon has 80 giant fulfillment centers strategically sprinkled around the globe that are ready to fulfill every order…
Cyber Monday Deals Likely to Lead to Busiest Online Shopping Day
Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, is increasingly becoming Cyber Week for many retailers as many Americans prefer to avoid crowds and compare prices online. Amazon.com, Target, Walmart were al…