US retailers offer post-holiday bargains to lure savvy shoppers

New York: US retailers extended discounts on computers, toys and clothes beyond Christmas to lure consumers who held out for lower prices and have gift cards to redeem.

Starting online on Friday, Best Buy Co. trimmed the price of a Dell Studio 17-inch notebook computer to $699.99 from $779.99. Toys ‘R' Us Inc. shoppers who buy a Nintendo Wii video game can buy a second game for half price.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which started cutting holiday toy prices from September 30, is trying to keep consumers coming back by offering a $50 gift card on purchases of Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 players through January 1. Promotions intensified after last weekend's East Coast snowstorm hurt sales going into Christmas.

"We are going to be very aggressive, we've been aggressive all season," Toys ‘R' Us Chief Executive Officer Jerry Storch said on December 23 from Wayne, New Jersey, where the largest US toy chain is based.

Best Buy fell 6 cents to $40.70 on December 24 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Walmart climbed 28 cents to $53.60.

Forecast

The Washington-based National Retail Federation was holding to its forecast for a 1 per cent drop in holiday sales, Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman, said December 20. The International Council of Shopping Centers reiterated on December 22 its forecast for a 2 per cent increase in sales at stores open at least a year in December, after reporting that the storm slowed growth to 0.4 per cent year over year in the week ended December 19.

"We expect a strong Dec-ember 26 shopping day since it falls on Saturday this year, which should close out December with a bang," Lisa Walters and Sapna Shah, principals of Retail Eye Partners, a New York-based research firm, wrote in a report. "We expect early-morning specials and compelling offers by retailers to boost selling levels to make up for the slower start to December."

Fifty-five per cent of mothers who shop at Walmart said they like to receive gift cards over the holidays because it allows them to shop the after-Christmas savings, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch this month. Two out of five moms planning to use their gift cards right away say they will shop right after Christmas to get the best prices.

Saks Inc., the New York-based luxury retailer, said it was offering up to 70 per cent off from 8am to noon yesterday, after which the discounts will revert to 40 per cent.

J.C. Penney Co. said it would open stores at 5am, its earliest opening ever for the day after Christmas, and offer more than 100 so-called doorbusters.

Over the next week, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., a men's clothing chain, will continue emphasising price reductions of regular merchandise, more than marking down clearance goods, CEO Neal Black said. Sales fell 13 per cent to $6.9 billion on the last Saturday before Christmas from the previous year, according to Chicago- based researcher ShopperTrak RCT Corp. A year ago, that was the second-biggest shopping day after Black Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving.

"Shoppers have been savvier than ever when it comes to price and promotion this holiday season," Retail Eye's Walters and Shah wrote. "Promotions have still been needed to get shoppers in."