Retailers lure shoppers with last-minute deals
Retailers are going to extremes in a last-ditch effort to lure shoppers right up until Christmas Eve.
Stores will stay open around the clock, a new round of doorbusters debut on Super Saturday this weekend and shoppers will be able to order gifts for same-day pickup as late as 5 p.m. on Dec. 24. Retailers' plans include:
• Toys R Us will remain open from 6 a.m. Tuesday through 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Stores will also be open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday through Monday. The toy store hopes parents will be enticed by the promise that it continues to be in stock of the hottest items, including Barbie and Playmobil, both of which are included in deals being offered this week.
• Amazon is offering same-day delivery on Christmas Eve if orders are placed by 10 a.m. for customers in 12 major metro areas. It also continues to offer a new deal of the day and other lightning deals with items between 20% and 80% off. Amazon extended the deadline for free shipping on orders guaranteed for Dec. 24 delivery to Friday (Dec. 19). Last year it was Dec. 17.
• Target is extending store hours from now until New Year's Eve, staying open until midnight on certain days, or between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on others. Customers can order items for same-day store pickup as late as 5 p.m. on Dec. 24. Target also has savings on HDTVs, PlayStation 4, and tablets from now until Christmas Eve.
• J.C. Penney extended holiday hours and plans another round of doorbuster deals Saturday, a day that is expected to surpass Black Friday as the biggest shopping day of the year this year. Stores will have savings on jewelry, a coffeemaker and Disney dolls. On Sunday, it will give away Disney snow globes to customers when stores open at 8 a.m.
The efforts are part of retailers' strategies to capture the last of holiday shopping budgets. Plus, near-constant deals online have retailers competing to show their stores are just as easy to shop, says Alison Paul, U.S. retail leader for consulting firm Deloitte.
Extended hours and being able to pick up online orders in stores mean "retailer brands are in front of consumers and saying, 'look we're just as convenient, and you can actually walk out the door with the item you want,' " Paul says.
After the November retail sales report last week, National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay said increased spending last month paved the way for "momentum for an even stronger December as customers continue to seek out deals all the way to Christmas." November retail sales excluding autos and food service jumped 0.7% on purchases of clothing, electronics and non-store spending.
Shoppers have two major shopping "holidays" left. Free Shipping Day is Thursday, when most online retailers will offer free shipping, and Super Saturday falls this weekend, expected to be the biggest shopping day by volume and sales, according to analytics firm ShopperTrak.
At the end of the season, promotions take on a new tone, says Paul, who expects offers like free gift wrapping and buy-one-get-one deals that encourage self-gifting to be more prevalent than the huge price cuts shoppers saw over Black Friday weekend. There's still significant seasonal dollars to capture in the coming week, especially as practices like same-day delivery and in-store pickup have trained customers to wait until the last minute to make purchases, Paul says.
"This last week is going to be critical for a bunch of retailers," she says. "At the tail end of the shopping season, for some consumers price stops being the issue. Convenience becomes a more important value driver because you're running out of time."