Last Minute Shopping Tips for Guys

Maxim Model

We got some help from an AskMen editor to save your procrastinating ass.

Last year you left your holiday shopping to the last minute. It stressed you out, you spent way more money than you had to, and, as you downed a pitcher of Wild Turkey to numb the pain, you also swore you'd never find yourself in the same hole next year. Well, it's next year!


That’s why us guys at AskMen teamed up with Maxim to tell you how to pull off last-minute shopping like a pro. (The Maxim guys disappeared the moment we mentioned "pitcher of Wild Turkey.")


You Have: 24 Hours Left
Lucky you, a whole day. Your first instinct is to use the Internet -- but you’re wrong. Because you’re so late in the game, you’ve missed the shipping deadline, which means you’ll have to hit the mall. Yes, the mall, where you’ll find yourself spending 20 minutes looking for parking and get stuck in line behind a snot factory masquerading as a five-year-old brat. (Quit, eyeballin' us, you little jerk!) You know what? Suck it up -- it’s the price you pay for leaving it till the eleventh hour.


Focus on one store, like a department store, so you can get in and get out. If you’re shopping for her, things like lingerie -- as long as it’s lingerie for her body type -- will be just fine. In fact, in a survey I took among the women at AskMen, they all said they’d love lingerie. And they’re hot, so it doesn’t get more valid than that. Also, since we know you’ve been hanging on to her every last word this year, getting her favorite author’s latest book or her favorite musician’s latest album works. Sometimes small, thoughtful gestures like these deliver a lot of impact.

You Have: Half A Day Left
Forget about the mall; at this point, all you’ll find left are those I’m-not-putting-out-tonight pajamas. Believe it or not, the local chain drugstore is your best bet. A lot of them sell gift-worthy stuff, like perfumes and beauty products for her (we recommend Lola by Marc Jacobs), and electronics for the guys in your life (tablets, Blu-ray players, digital cameras, etc.). Sure, it may seem unsettling knowing that you’re offering a gift to your loved one from the same place you buy your condoms, but remember: No one’s going to know where that perfume came from.

You Have: Less Than Five Minutes Left
Relax, it’s totally doable -- now’s when you go online and buy things that are for a future date. For example, buying tickets to an upcoming concert or a show she wants to see, or booking a weekend getaway in the new year. Just print out the paperwork, stick it in a card and surprise her with it.

You Have: Zero Minutes Left
For some of you, it’s game over. For the rest, you’ll have to convince her that what you got her is on the way, which usually calls for something extravagant or custom-made. But that’s another article.

News by Maxim


Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Holiday sales strong, but still discounted

Holiday Shopping

(Reuters) - With six days until Christmas, the U.S. holiday shopping season is better than expected, with discounts deep enough to bring in shoppers who are searching for bargains but not showing the desperation seen in the recession.

Department stores like Macy's Inc are shaping up to be among the big winners, while apparel retailers are being hurt as mild weather limits demand for winter clothes.

"Some of the women's retailers that were doing well earlier in the year are getting hurt this holiday by the resurgence of the department store," said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consulting firm.

Customer Growth Partners, which has been one of the most bullish forecasters of sales heading into the holiday season, estimated that U.S. retailer sales on Saturday were $26 billion, just shy of the $27 billion spent on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, which traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season.

Johnson was one of the most bullish forecasters coming into the holiday season. Now others are joining suit.

ShopperTrak, which monitors traffic at shopping malls, now expects sales in November and December to rise 3.7 percent, up from its September forecast of 3 percent.

Last week, the National Retail Federation raised its forecast, calling for holiday sales to rise 3.8 percent. In October, it forecast a gain of 2.8 percent.

To be sure, that NRF forecast is still less than the 5.2 percent increase reported for 2010. Unemployment was still 8.6 percent in November and lower-income shoppers have been making use of such plans as layaway to paying for holiday items.

So many analysts said sales are not exceptionally strong or exceptionally weak.

"There's more that's normal here than people want to let on," Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold said.

ShopperTrak cofounder Bill Martin said that discounts were more in the 30 percent to 40 percent range, instead of the 50 percent to 60 percent seen last year.

On Saturday, he said it was hard to find parking spaces at the malls he visited and he saw lots of people with packages. In other words, it was a typical weekend before Christmas.

"It's been a typical shopping pattern," he said.

Overall, traffic to stores may be off a couple of percentage points. But that's because more people are shopping on line, he said.

IBM Benchmark, which tracks transactions on the websites of hundreds of the top retailers, said on Monday it now expects online sales to rise 9.5 percent to 10 percent in December from a year ago.

Trutina Financial Chief Investment Officer Patty Edwards said what she saw at Target this weekend was stocked shelves and normal discounts.

"There weren't any specific markdowns that were overly compelling, but conversely, there didn't seem to be any shortages of items at all," Edwards said

WANT A DEAL? BUY A COAT

Even with retailers managing their pace of discounts and avoiding desperation, higher costs for cotton and other materials are taking their toll. Many retailers' gross margins are likely to decline this holiday season, according to data from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Over the weekend, 40 percent discounts "seemed to be the cost of doing business," said Nomura Equity Research analyst Paul Lejuez, who follows apparel retailers, adding that "promos are likely to intensify this week."

Among the retailers offering such discounts were Abercrombie & Fitch Co, American Eagle Outfitters Inc, Ann Inc, Gap Inc and Wet Seal Inc, Lejuez said.

Mild weather has cut into sales of winter clothing, said independent retail analyst Brian Sozzi.

"Coats are offering some of the best deals in the mall right now," he said.

One of the featured items on Macys.com on Monday was women's coats for 40 percent to 50 percent off.

"Those cold temperatures that you typically experience in December just haven't been there," said Joe DeRugeriis, senior marketing manager at Planalytics, which provides weather consulting services for businesses.

"People are still going to spend the cash," he said, "but the cash is moving to things more like electronics and not those items that normally sell well this time of the year."

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Black Friday Sales Up Seven Percent Over 2010

Black Friday Shopping

The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start on Black Friday, with retail sales up 7 percent over last year, according to the most recent survey. Now stores just have to keep buyers coming back without the promise of door-buster savings.

Buyers spent $11.4 billion at retail stores and malls, up nearly $1 billion from last year, according to a Saturday report from ShopperTrak. It was the largest amount ever spent on the day that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, and the biggest year-over-year increase since 2007. Chicago-based ShopperTrak gathers data from 25,000 outlets across the U.S., including individual stores and shopping centers.

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. broke its Black Friday record for shoppers, thanks to a decision to open at midnight for the first time. Around 210,000 visitors came to the mall on Friday, up from 200,000 last year, according to mall spokeswoman Bridget Jewell.

Online shopping was strong as well, with a 24.3 percent increase in online spending on Black Friday, according to IBM, which tracks sales at 500 online retailers.

Bill Martin, who founded ShopperTrak, said he was surprised by the strong showing. He had expected the weak economy to dent consumer confidence and keep more shoppers out of the stores, or at least from spending much. Instead, he said, they responded to a blanket of promotions, from 60- and 70-percent off deals to door-buster savings on electronics.

"I'm pleased to see it. You can't have a great season without having a good Black Friday," Martin told The Associated Press in an interview.

Sales were also up 4 percent each in the two weeks leading up to Black Friday, as retailers started their promotions earlier than usual or extended their hours.

Still, he suspects things will quiet down this weekend, as promotions end and the buying frenzy subsides. ShopperTrak is expecting holiday sales to be up 3.3 percent this season. Retailers generally rely on sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make up 20 percent of their annual take.

There weren't many shoppers at Pioneer Place Mall in Portland, Ore., on Saturday.

"This is great, I'm glad I waited," said MaryJane Danan, who drove two hours from Corvallis, Ore., to go shopping with her teenage daughters. She stayed home on Black Friday because she thought the crowds would be huge. But she was surprised by how few people were out Saturday.

At Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C., Mary Aker was forced to use valet parking Friday because she couldn't find a parking spot. But on Saturday, the pace had let up a little, so she and her husband came back to do some more shopping.

Aker, 58, a retired librarian, said she's spending about as much as she usually does for Christmas. But she's asking people what they want ahead of time to make sure everyone is happy.

At the same mall, sisters Patricia Harrington, Betty Thomas and Laverne Kelly had been shopping all weekend, starting with an all-nighter Thursday after Thanksgiving dinner. The sisters said things calmed down considerably by Friday and Saturday. They suspected a lot of people were shopping online, but they were also underwhelmed by the discounts.

"People are losing their jobs. They should have better deals," said Kelly, 50 and a customer service agent at FedEx.

"There are a lot of people out here but fewer bags," added Thomas, 52 and a health coordinator at a Raleigh hospital.

Thanksgiving weekend, particularly Black Friday, is huge for retailers. Over the past six years, Black Friday was the biggest sales day of the year, and it is expected to keep that crown this year, though shoppers seem to be procrastinating more every year and the fate of the holiday season is increasingly coming down to the last few days before Christmas.

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday sales. Black Friday made up about half of that.

News by Huffingtonpost


Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Want to buy clothes online? New technology may help

Buy Clothes

(Reuters) - Asaf Moses is in the midst of displaying a new way to measure body dimensions.

A virtual instructor prompts him to turn 90 degrees to the left and adopt various poses such as "The Penguin," aimed at capturing over 20 different measurements using a device that many people have embedded in their laptops -- a simple webcam.

"It's capturing everything that's needed to tailor a shirt to your measurements", said Moses. And it's all online.

Shoppers generally flock to malls during the holidays beginning on Black Friday, although in recent years many have headed to the Internet. A recent survey by analytics firm comScore predicted online shopping would increase 15 percent this current holiday season.

Yet buying apparel from a website can cause problems finding the right size, look and fit for your body type and personal tastes. As a result, several technology companies have created new ways for people to size themselves up at home.

Moses, the co-founder of one such technology company from Germany, UPcload, said his system takes just three minutes and generates measurements as accurate as a tailor.

Once measured, shoppers will be able to access their measurements at supporting retailers' websites so they can see, for example, if a size small-sized t-shirt will fit around their chest or be long enough to drape down their torso.

Fits.me is taking the task of finding the perfect fit a step further by using robotic mannequins with dimensions similar to a shopper's in a sort of virtual fitting room.

"Robots are a fantastic tool to see how garments look on differently sized human bodies", said Heikki Haldre, co-founder and CEO of the Estonia-based company.

Each garment is photographed 2000 times, accounting for the permutations of body measurements that the robots morph into.

"When the customer goes online to see the garment on their body measurements, they are seeing one of those pre-recorded images," said Haldre.

Fits.me's virtual fitting rooms are currently being used by retailers such as Thomas Pink and Ermenegildo Zegna.

Haldre said that users of the technology are almost 10 times more likely to make a purchase.

PERSONALIZING ONLINE SHOPPING

That boost is significant. Forrester Research forecasts that only 10.9 percent of apparel and accessories transactions will be conducted online by the end of 2011, far less than the 25 percent for books and 17 percent for consumer electronics.

"Books and electronics are the most penetrated categories because they're easy to purchase online -- you don't need to touch or feel them," said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst of eBusiness for Forrester Research.

Mulpuru said the apparel shoppers' online hesitancy is complex, extending beyond finding the perfect fit.

"It's not just a science. A lot of it is personal preference," which is difficult for technology to address.

Moses of UPcload said accounting for people's varying tastes is something the company considered during development.

"When we started, we had this intention to tell you your size ... (but) people's preferences play an enormous role. Some people want their clothing tight, and some want it loose," he explained. Now UPcload just provides details on the fit.

Haldre of Fits.me agrees. "The fitting room looks at size from the perspective that 'it's a matter of a style', he said.

"It's surprising how many people choose a size that is not recommended by the size chart. Almost half would go for a size smaller, or even a couple sizes larger."

Looking ahead, Haldre envisions an online shopping world where people will "see how clothing will look on them -- with their face and other apparel they might be wearing."

For instance, another company, Zugara, lets customers overlay garments on themselves using a webcam.

Haldre predicted the convergence of various technologies would create a big shift in shopping, eventually leading to online making up 30 percent of apparel purchases.

But Mulpuru was more skeptical.

"I don't know that we'll ever get to 30 percent, because ultimately it's a very personal decision," she said.

"So much of what happens in a store is not just about fit. It's also about someone saying 'that looks great on you' and getting social validation for a product -- and that's something that an algorithm definitely can't account for."

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving kicks off fight for holiday sales

Holiday Shopping

(Reuters) - The holiday shopping season is in full swing on Thursday, with retailers hoping consumers will spend big despite worries about the fragile economy and their own precarious finances.

The shopping period has been underway for some time as retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Toys R Us started early by offering layaway programs.

But shoppers are looking for major bargains and retail executives are predicting a more competitive season than 2010.

An Old Navy store in Watchung, New Jersey, was teeming with shoppers on Thursday morning, while a line outside a Best Buy in Union, N.J., included shoppers who had pitched a tent to stay warm until the store's midnight opening, according to Charles O'Shea, a Moody's senior retail analyst.

O'Shea said he was visiting various retailers to gauge consumer traffic. The big draws are deals, like t-shirts for $6, down from $12. Bargains like those will be a fixture for the season, he said.

"There is no question that the shopper is looking for deals," O'Shea said. "Nobody wants to feel like they're leaving money on the table, especially when they have less money now."

Millions of U.S. people will head out to shop once they are done with their turkey dinners, getting a jump-start on "Black Friday" - the single biggest shopping day of the year, which sets the tone for the entire season.

Still, many others will be watching their pennies.

Paula Taero, a 58 year-old housekeeper from Queens, New York who was shopping on Thursday at a Kmart in Manhattan, said she is cutting back this year on her Christmas shopping.

"Santa will buy for others. I don't have so much money this year."

Wal-Mart, Old Navy, which is part of Gap Inc and KMart, owned by Sears Holdings', are among the few retailers open on Thanksgiving. Toys R Us opens Thursday evening.

To narrow the gap in store hours with rivals, discounter Target Corp, electronics chain Best Buy and department store chains Macy's Inc and Kohl's Corp will open at midnight - their earliest starts ever.

Others, including J.C. Penney Co Inc, are opening early Friday morning as they did last year.

The National Retail Federation expects sales in November and December to be up 2.8 percent over last year, but below 2010's 5.2 percent gain. So retailers, online and offline, see little margin for error.

BARGAINS OR BUST

Wal-Mart starts its Black Friday "doorbuster" deals on Thursday at 10 p.m. at its stores. Amazon.com Inc, not to be outdone, will offer its deals online at 9 p.m.

Newspaper inserts on Thursday morning were boasting of the usual "Black Friday" bargains to get people into stores. For example, Staples Inc was offering an ink jet printer for 60 percent off, while Target was offering 46-inch, high-definition televisions for about 45 percent off.

The knock-down-drag-out fight comes as the rebound in sales cooled in October, when many top chains like Macy's and Saks reported disappointing sales.

It will be even tougher for chains that have struggled with sales declines lately, like Gap and Penney.

The NRF expects 152 million people to hit stores this weekend, up 10.1 percent from last year.

But much of that traffic will be fueled by bargain hunting, analysts said, with the real test coming after the weekend when retailers see if spending happens only if there are big bargains on the table.

Last year, after a strong Black Friday weekend, shoppers sat on their hands until closer to Christmas.

This year, those looking for steals beyond the requisite "Black Friday" specials may be disappointed.

In a research note on Tuesday, Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner said: "Bargain hunters may have a tougher time finding those markdowns this year, as retailers are keeping a sharper eye on profit margins."

Either way, middle class shoppers are also more frugal now, taking a page from their lower income counterparts, Andrew Stein, vice president of marketing planning at Sears Holdings told Reuters.

"The Kmart customer has always been a value shopper. The rest of the country is behaving like the Kmart shopper now," he said, noting that there were a lot of people at Kmart's layaway lines on Thursday.

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com