By George Anderson
Merchants in the Pittsburgh, Pa. area concerned with being stuck with excess inventory at the end of the holiday season are beginning to advertise "after-Christmas" sale prices on a wide variety of items.
Retailers such as Dick's Sporting Goods and Kaufman's department stores are looking to drive traffic now with advertisements promoting discounts up to 60 percent on select items.
Edward J. Fox, director of the J.C. Penney Center for Retail Excellence at Southern Methodist University, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "It's a signal to customers that these are the lowest prices and waiting any longer isn't going to benefit them."
While store traffic has begun to pick up in the run up to Christmas and many stores have expanded hours to accommodate procrastinators, there is still a sense among some that shoppers are willing to wait stores out in search of even better deals.
Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, said, "Since many shoppers will also have the day after Christmas off, we expect to see sales on Dec. 26 out-perform those of 2004, adding another strong day to the holiday shopping calendar."
Moderator's Comment: Realistically, is there anything retailers can do to break consumers of waiting them out at the holidays for better pricing? - George Anderson - Moderator