Video Story
Watch VideoOnline shopping sales already underway
Story By: Jamie Smith
Source: NBC
With a dreadful outlook for the holiday shopping season there are all sorts of deals to be had.
Internet shopping sites are waging an all out war to court financially strapped consumers. It may be the Grinch that stole Christmas for many brick and mortar stores and online shopping sites.
Both retailers and e-tailers are already advertising steep discounts to lure in holiday shoppers. The Internet market research firm comscore.com reports sales growth on e-commerce sites has slowed to a puny one percent for the lowest rate ever and well below the typical 20 percent gain.
For example, Sony’s high def hdr-sr11 digital video cam with a suggested retail price of $1,200 is down to $869 on dell.com and Abe’s of Maine has it for $750 and digital direct less than $500 dollars.
Lori's, a Chicago based website that sells women’s accessories has cut the price on a chocolate brown hype bag from $270 to $148 dollars.
K-mart is now offering free shipping on orders over $49.00, something it has never done before.
For shoppers with the lowest consumer confidence in decades, price is not everything, it's the only thing. Free shipping may be an issue as e-commerce sites lower their profit margin, and that could be a double edged sword. Consumer surveys show buyers are less likely to purchase online if they shipping is not free.
