To combat online shopping and a slow economy, more retailers are providing more convenient shipping options and providing layaway, price matching, and smart phone apps for shoppers.?
People line up outside Toys R Us as Black Friday sales begin in 2010, in Royal Palm Beach, Fla. To combat a slow economy and online sales, this year retailers are offering more customized options than ever.
Rachel Mummey/The Palm Beach Post/AP/File
EnlargeThis holiday season, Burger King won't be the only place where you can have it your way.
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It used to be enough for stores to promise discounts of up to 70 percent off to lure shoppers during the busy holiday shopping season. But the ease of ordering online and the sluggish economy has created more demanding U.S. consumers who aren't impressed by discounts alone. They want their shopping just like their fast food: not only cheap, but convenient too.
That means they're no longer afraid to walk away from the cashmere sweater with the perfect fit if the store is crowded. They're also unwilling to buy those suede pumps that are just the right shade of blue if they have to pay to get them shipped. And they cringe at the prospect of carrying around a bunch of paper coupons; they'd rather be able to pull them up electronically on their smartphones.
Retailers from discounter Wal-Mart to department-store chain Macy's are doing everything they can to make it easier for this new crop of finicky shoppers to spend their money during the busy holiday shopping season. Several are opening on Thanksgiving Day. Some are offering free layaways and shipping. Many are matching in-store prices with cheaper online deals. And others are allowing shoppers to buy online and pick up their merchandise in stores.
It's the latest effort by stores to court shoppers like Patty Edwards. Four years ago, Edwards, who lives in Bellevue, Wash., bought all of her holiday purchases at online retailer Amazon.com because she thought it was the easiest way to shop. But this year, she plans to shop elsewhere because there are stores are offering more shipping options.
"Now I'm not necessarily tied to Amazon," said Edwards, a retail analyst and principal at investment firm Trutina Financial. "I can go to Nordstrom, Saks or Target and have stuff available to pick up. It's a pretty simple process. That wasn't the case four or five years ago."
The have-it-your-way approach is partly a response by merchants to their fear that shoppers will spend less freely this season over worries about high unemployment and a package of tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" that will take effect in January unless Congress passes a budget deal by then. It also comes as the growth of smartphones and tablet computers have made it easier for shoppers to browse and buy with the touch of their fingertips. No need to battle long lines at The Gap when you can just Google what you want.
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