Shopaholics Trying to Buy Self-Esteem

$41.2B weekend total beats 2008 haul by $1.2B

(NEWSER) - Thanksgiving weekend retail sales totaled $41.2 billion, a .5% jump over last year's $41 billion, but the average shopper spent 8% less than in 2008, $343.31 against $372.57. Discounts, especially on electronics and toys, were the overwhelming attraction as cautious consumers pried open their wallets, Bloomberg reports. Retailers "know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas," said the head of the National Retail Federation. More»

Large retailers join smaller niche stores to offer rebates for reusing

(NEWSER) - Target and CVS will reward customers for using reusable shopping bags, and the efforts could take a billion plastic bags out of circulation. Though some retailers—notably Wal-Mart—have been slow to hop on the eco bandwagon, initiatives at smaller chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have met with success. “Retailers who want to connect with this generation have to go green,” an expert tells USA Today. More»

But some like the extra coupons

(NEWSER) - Buy a pack of gum at a New York drugstore, get a foot-long receipt. That’s just one example of the paper-trail overload generated by many retailers in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports. What was once a record of your purchase has become a ribbon of countless coupons, contests, and reminders. “The receipt issue has gotten out of hand,” says one shopper, whose complaints are echoed by others: "You feel like you have a very special document in your pocket, when in reality you bought a Sprite at a Best Buy." More»

A list of retail strategies to do good while you buy

(NEWSER) - Want to do some shopping and do some good—at the same time? Sandy Stonesifer, writing for Slate, offers some ways to buy for the betterment of humanity:

• Go for products that donate a portion of proceeds to charity—like Product (Red) iPods, which give to the Global Fund, and pink playing cards, which donate to breast cancer research.
• Web sites like Goodshop let you send a piece of your purchase price to charities.

(NEWSER) - Some recession-wary companies are marketing more to women these days, the Economist reports. After all, women make more than 80% of discretionary buys in America, and are more loyal, product-plugging (or bashing) customers. But one expert says the strategy could turn off male buyers in traditionally masculine marketing areas like automotives—even though women buy most new cars. More»