Whether you braved the craze of Black Friday or divided your online time between facebook, studying, and Cyber Monday shopping…chances are you’ve got a wee bit of shopping left to do in the next few weeks. And you’re not alone.
“Trade group National Retail Federation said Sunday that while 195 million shoppers–13% more than last year–visited stores and Web sites over the Black Friday weekend, the average spending over the weekend declined 7.9% to $343.31.” (Wall Street Journal Business) It’s assumed that many of those missing dollars will be made up in the online shopping market, as many retailers are luring customers to their websites with hard to beat deals.
So, what’s popular this year? According to a survey from the Consumer Electronics Association, “notebooks, portable mp3 players and flat-panel TVs would be the most purchased CE products this holiday and new and emerging product categories, such as eBook readers, Blu-ray players and smartphones, would also be popular” (WSJ).
Of course, topping the wish list for many MUH students may be TIME. More time for writing final papers and studying for finals. The good news is that in just a few more weeks you can cross THOSE off your list for good, leaving you with a wee bit more time to attend to your holiday plans.
Books on Retail/Shopping
- Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture (Shell 2009)
- Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing.(Sorensen 2009)
- Ad Women: How They Impact what We Need, Want, and Buy (Sivulka 2009)
- Wal-smart: What it really takes to Profit in a Wal-Mart World (Marguard 2007)
- Greentailing and other Revolutions in Retail: Hot Ideas that are Grabbing Customer’s Attention and Raising Profits (Stern 2008)
Image courtesy of:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmarty/ / CC BY 2.0