Do you remember when shopping on the internet was scary and mostly a really sketchy thing to do? I do. But now, shopping for just about anything on the internet has become not only acceptable and safe but (for the most part) much less expensive than shopping for things in stores.

I’ll give a good example for clothing purchases. I recently stopped into a store, that I typically shop at on the internet, but was with a friend of mine at a mall, and saw a pair of blue jeans that I had to have. Well, instead of buying them on site, I went to the retailer’s website on my cell phone, only to find out the jeans were discounted on the website and were only 2/3 of the price the store wanted. I was amazed.

This kind of thing happens all the time. You don’t have to be at a store in the mall to notice price difference between a retailer and its website. For example, if you want an item from Wal-Mart that isn’t food or things like toothpaste, they are typically cheaper on the Walmart.com website and the store offers free site-to-store shipping. One thing that kind of irritates me though is that the store will not accept the internet price in store.

There is also a lot more selection when it comes to shopping on the internet. Sometimes Bryce and I shop at Old Navy for our clothes because they are stylish and inexpensive, not to mention our kids like the clothes too. The problem is when we go to the store, it usually looks like it has been hit by a train. Everything is scattered all over the place, and the clearance section is particularly bad. But because Old Navy’s sizes are usually the same no matter what style you’re getting, we can shop for the clothes on the internet now. We usually save a bit of money there too because we’re actually able to find clothes that fit and we like in the clearance section.

When we’re shopping online, we don’t have to make the journey all the way across town to get to the store either, so we can save that money and save it, or spend it on something that we need like groceries.

These days, you can buy anything on the internet (and usually for cheaper too). While I wouldn’t buy it right now, Amazon sells groceries on its website. If you look, it is kind of like Costco.

A week or so ago, there was a story about how Walmart, Amazon, and Target were in a price war over books. Best sellers were getting the most attention and were selling for a lot off of the cover price of the book. While this price war between the retailers is still going strong, there is a new price war that is heating up.

Now the retailers (the exact same three: Walmart, Target, and Amazon) are trying to find out how low can they go on DVD prices.

Target started by lowering the price on 10 DVDs which include the newest Star Trek movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood, Prince, and Julie & Julia, all for $10. These were some of the summer’s hottest movies that are now well under what everyone was paying for the same movies just a few weeks ago.

Walmart followed suit by lowering prices on the same highly-anticipated movies to $9.98. Amazon is also offering the movies for $10.

Of course, the prices are simply promotional prices rather than actual long-term prices. The retailers are certainly paying more than $10 for each DVD (new releases anyway). Typically a new release DVD costs between $15 and $20.

At these prices I would be more willing to pick up the movies that I really want. I always shy away from DVD purchases because I don’t watch them often enough to justify paying $20 for a DVD when I can rent it at RedBox for $1 per night.

Target will be starting mobile phone sales inside its stores. While most retail stores such as Target and Walmart and even Best Buy offer mobile phone sales, the way that Target is going to be selling mobile phones will be a bit different than others do.

Target will be outsourcing its mobile phone sales to Radio Shack. Because of this, Radio Shack will be opening up kiosks inside the store. Any consumer will be able to buy the same brands they can get other places. They will have T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless.

According to the article, you won’t be able to buy Sprint phones at the kiosks, but I can’t see that holding because Sprint has always been one of the main carriers that sold at Radio Shack stores.

This could be a good idea for smaller retailers; however Target is a pretty big store with a large retail footprint. Target has the ability to sell and the room to sell the phones and plans, but I suppose that they have felt as though this would be the best way to do it and would benefit everyone in the deal.

There wasn’t a lot of information released about the deal between Target and Radio Shack. However, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, California said that Kiosk Operations (a subsidiary of Radio Shack that will be operating the kiosks inside the Target stores) is likely paying Target for the ability to operate In its stores. He said that it is likely for the company to pay between $30,000 and $40,000 per year for retail rent. It is likely that Kiosk Operations will also be paying Target a small amount of its sales, which is probably going to be less than 10 percent.

Source

Fortune’s closely watched list, released Sunday, ranked companies by their revenue in 2008. Irving, Texas-based Exxon took in $442.85 billion in revenue last year, up almost 19 percent from 2007. The company also raked in the biggest annual profit, earning $45.2 billion.

Although it may have been a good year for Exxon and Wal-Mart, 2008 was far from rosy for most of remaining companies on the list. Overall earnings plunged 85 percent to $98.9 billion from $645 billion in 2007, the biggest one-year decline in the 55-year history of the Fortune 500 list.

“America is getting used to the sound of bubbles bursting,” Fortune said.

Energy companies continued to dominate many of the top positions, as last summer’s skyrocketing oil and gas prices more than compensated for their plunge later that fall. Chevron Corp. held on to third place with $263.16 billion in revenue, up 25 percent. ConocoPhillips climbed one place to fourth, with $230.76 billion in revenue.

I think that people are still pretty angry at Exxon and other oil companies raking in record profits while we were all stuck paying $4 a gallon at the pump. Gas prices ere simply ridiculous and these companies were taking all the benefits.

Source

Today’s reports were, not surprisingly, dismal, and accompanied by at least a dozen profit warnings, including Macy’s and Target.

Overall same-store sales dropped 1.7 percent in December and 2.2 percent for the whole November-December season, the International Council of Shopping Centers reported, marking the worst holiday since at least 1969, when the ICSC started keeping track. – CNBC.com

It goes on to say:

The biggest surprise came from Wal-Mart, which reported its same-store sales rose 1.7 percent last month, well shy of the expected 2.8-percent increase, and slashed its forecast. – CNBC.com

So, you’d think because of these problems, prices would fall, but I’m seeing the opposite at my local Wal-Mart. About a month ago, prices were falling, but now they’re on their way back up…

Source

Friday night Chris and his parents go to Wal-Mart to return the Playstation 3 he got for Christmas. His mom was assured when she bought it that it had a 90 day return policy, opened or not. I called the store before we went and I was told 15 days. After deciding what I was told was a load of hooey, they went to customer service anyway. There they were told 30 days and she was 6 days out, right AFTER Christmas. This is from their website:

As an added convenience for customers, Wal-Mart has adjusted its return policy for the holiday gift buying season for items that have a limited return/exchange period (15 days, 30 days, etc.). For these items purchased between Nov. 15 and Dec. 25, the limited return period will begin Dec. 26. This includes items such as TVs, cameras, computers, DVD and music players which can have a 15-30 day return period.

Their original return policy (not during the holiday season):

All merchandise purchased from Walmart.com may be returned either to a store or by mail within 90 days, unless otherwise noted below:
ELECTRONICS

* Computer hardware: Must be returned with any included software within 15 days of receipt.
* Computer components and computer accessories: Must be returned within 45 days of receipt.
* Computer software: Must be returned unopened.
* Camcorders and digital cameras: Must be returned within 30 days of receipt.
* GPS units, digital music players and portable video players: Must be returned within 15 days of receipt.

Wal-Mart ended up accepting the Playstation 3 return. Probably because they were called out on their “discretionary” return policy.

The news has long been rumored around the internet, however. The price won’t be anything special, although now you can pick up the diapers along with your iPhone.

I have been awed by the device in the past. I would actually like to have the iPhone at one point, but HTC handsets are currently grabbing my eye. Even the Xperia X1 has got my attention, but the iPhone is something that has always interested me.

Perhaps the hype is warranted, but really? You’ve always been able to go to the AT&T store to pick up your iPhone, now you can go to Wal-Mart… now you can have an uninterested and uninformed employee tell you about your two year commitment…

The discount retailer, which has more than 1.4 million employees, said the amount it pays will depend on how many claims are submitted by eligible workers and could range from $352 million to $640 million. – AP

Wal Mart has been trying to clean up its image and hopefully it will pay off. It is trying to get customers (and potential customers) to see its stores as a bit higher quality than in the past. It says that part of the clean up is to finalize these lawsuits.

So now any French carrier may carry the iPhone…

Also, it turns out the Wal-Mart $99 iPhone rumor was just that, a rumor. Information came out today saying that Wal-Mart will begin selling the iPhone on December 28 for $197 for the 8GB and $297 for the 16GB with a 2 year contract. Wal-Mart employees, will however, receive a 15% discount on plans with AT&T

A rumor floating around gadget and electronic blogs says that some Best Buy stores are holding the popular game system until this Sunday.

I can’t believe that the Wii is still so hard to find. After the 2 years it has been out, it has been steadily out of stock in a lot of locations.

Rumor has it, not only will Wal-Mart be offering the iPhone, it will be selling the 4GB model for $99 with a 2 year contract.

The low price tag for the phone will not change the price of the data and talk plan(s) required for the phone. However, many will probably see the low initial price rather than seeing what they will pay in the long run to have an iPhone.

At 5 a.m. shoppers “broke down the doors” to get to the sales, trampling Jdimytai Damour while he was attempting to open the doors. At least four other employees were injured trying to save him.

Store managers and police were telling customers to leave because they were closing due to the death…many of the customers became angry because of the announcement (even though they knew why the store was closing).

I was at our local Wal-Mart this morning, and while no one was trampled, it was a “mad house.” The store didn’t close the night before, so people were lining up around the items they wanted. The largest (and angriest) line was around the electronics, followed by toys.

This is a sad, sad accident to happen…unfortunately, it will most likely not be the last time someone is injured or killed because of an unruly crowd during a large sale.

This leads to lots of gift cards.

I am, for the most part, opposed to gift cards. Here’s why. I don’t like gift cards because it is like giving an interest free loan to the businesses. In our economy, a business can just as likely go into bankruptcy, and are no longer required to redeem these cards. MarketWatch talked about this in an article just after the Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy.

Not worth the plastic they’re printed on: Sharper Image bankruptcy means consumers may find gift cards worthless

At the same time, if I’m given a gift card to say, Walmart, I’m probably going to use it to pay for groceries…which is something I will need, and having the gift card makes it feel like a “discount.”  A gift card to a grocery store will be used fairly quickly, and Walmart is doing well right now…haha.

First up is the five day unpaid vacation. It is voluntary, but it is a leave that is unpaid.

Second is a hiring freeze. At the end of 2006, Dell employed somewhere around 90,000 people, at the end of 2007 it had 88,000. In May of this year, Dell began a 10% reduction in staff.

What’s the problem with Dell right now? Dell is in the middle of a retooling period, it is trying to position itself differently in the market. Not long ago, Dell was a direct-to-buyer company; You would order the computers directly from Dell. Now, it is trying to position itself more into retail stores (this is why you can get a Dell computer at WalMart now). It’s not such a bad thing, until you look at the fact that retail sales are down.

Thanks to some "funny" accounting practices I will never get another Archway cookie. Earlier this month the company filed for bankruptcy and shut their doors.

The newly unemployed from the company were given little or no explanation for why they were fired, but were told it was "complicated." Now, it is known that fraud in accounting had a lot to do with it.

Rip Archway Cookies

I am looking forward to the sales this year…I have been trolling around message boards that are saying WalMart and Toys R Us are going to be battling for the same base this year, maybe this means I can get a few games for my Wii on the cheap