Shopping, Retail | featured news

Retailers saw their fair share of last-minute shoppers on Saturday, the day before Christmas, but stores were not super-busy, putting a moderate cap on pre-holiday season that started with a bang and has waned ever since.

Retailers’ midnight openings last week brought in customers, most big chains said they were pleased with their Black Friday sales, and the November revenue increases at stores open at least a year came in just where analysts had expected, reports showed Thursday.

In an unexpected twist, TVs are topping many Christmas shopping lists this year. Wal-Mart says TVs are among the top gifts people are putting on layaway at its 3,000-plus U.S. stores during the holiday season. The Westinghouse 46-inch LCD HDTV that was on sale for half off at Target for $298 was a top seller during the start to the season last weekend. And Abt Electronics already has sold out of 55-inch Samsung LED TVs that were marked down by half to $1,099.

After years of being more hype than highlight, Cyber Monday appears on its way to its biggest outing ever. Last year, the Monday after Thanksgiving saw an estimated $1 billion spent online in the United States, making it the biggest e-sales day ever. And analysts said Monday that this year's "holiday" -- the online answer to the annual Black Friday bargain rush on stores -- is on pace to be bigger still.

With the intensity of Black Friday shopping starting to fade, store chains know they are under pressure to keep the sales momentum going as they enter the next phase of a competitive holiday shopping season.

When IBM projected that 15% of Black Friday online sales this year would transact via mobile, a lot of analysts and bloggers, not to mention unprepared retailers, scoffed. To many, it seemed too huge of a jump — after all, as recently as 2009 less than 1% of online sales came from mobile.

It's no secret that technology has changed in-store shopping behavior. Whether it be through mobile phones, barcode scanning, or price comparison shopping sites; consumers are more prepared than ever in the store aisle.

It looks like we’re headed into another not-so-jolly holiday shopping season. According to the latest Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll out today, only a third of those surveyed expect to be happier this holiday season than last.

Retailers are so desperate this holiday season that they're willing to lose money to get you to spend yours....