Holiday Shopping Season | featured news

Regulators are warning the nation's top retailers to ensure the safety of their workers on Black Friday in the face of what could be a rush for holiday deals.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is going for the jugular in the holiday retailing war, announcing Thursday that it will offer free shipping on nearly 60,000 online items _ with no minimum purchase requirement.

Amid the deluge of holiday music that comes in November and December, Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas II You and Susan Boyle’s The Gift are poised to make all those other seasonal crooners sound like off-key carolers.

Are you filling Santa's bag this year using paper or plastic? Millions of Americans will trim the tree this year with a credit card balance still left over from last year. Don't let this be you. It virtually guarantees you aren't saving enough to protect against the many uncertainties in the economy. And chances are, if you're charging up your credit cards, you also aren't investing enough in your retirement and education funds to make sure the future is secure.

Retailers should see their best Christmas sales in four years as consumers now show some inclination to spend money despite a minimal recovery in the economy, according to series of recent forecasts.

U.S. retailers are expected to post modest sales gains for September, on cautious back-to-school shopping and aggressive month-end promotions from department stores looking to clear inventory ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.

Nintendo said it will launch its 3-D hand-held videogame system in February, damping speculation that it would launch the product in time for the year-end holiday shopping season.

“For the holidays, the tablets will be mostly Android-based, plus the iPad,” said Mike Vitelli, Best Buy’s President of North and South American business, in an interview.

Shoppers spent slightly more last month than they had the year before, but sales were far short of 2008 levels, heralding what could be a disappointing holiday shopping season.

U.S. retailers largely saw a strong finish to the 2009 holiday season even though sales fell at apparel chains and department stores in December, according to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse.