Best Buy Cyber Monday

Best Buy Cyber Monday, (AP) – Not all Americans tucked into turkey with their families on Thanksgiving. Some were out shopping, hitting sales ahead of the crowds expected Friday.

After a year of cautious spending and worry over an uncertain economy and high unemployment, more stores this year extended hours into Thanksgiving Day, a day when stores are traditionally closed.

Many grumble about the relentless march of commercialism creeping into the holiday. But at least some shoppers took the bait.

While crowds appeared relatively light compared with the weekend ahead, the extended hours drew in overseas visitors, those who have to work Friday and some who couldn’t resist a good deal.

Sears, Kmart and some Sports Authority, Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores were among those open Thursday.

At an Old Navy in Lutherville, Md., Brenda Tarver, 65, a retired postal employee from Baltimore, was dragged out of the house by her daughters, but was finding good deals on clothing.

“They’ve got good prices and a variety of items. A lot of things are 50 percent off,” she said.

Willy Gerelbest, 45, a counselor from Brooklyn, was shopping at Kmart in New York for sneakers on sale for $9.99.

“I saw the advertising and just wanted to check it out,” he said. “Tomorrow I have to work.”

David Friedman, president of marketing for Sears Holdings Corp. said the decision to open 7 a.m.-noon on Thanksgiving Day stemmed from positive response to a similar “early Black Friday” sale in November, as well as success with Kmart, which Sears also owns and has been open on Thanksgiving for 19 years.

Workers will earn holiday pay and still be home in time for a Thanksgiving meal, Friedman said.

At the Sears store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., the largest U.S. shopping and entertainment complex, sales were fueled by a charity walk at the mall.

The walk — and a good sale — drew Helen Schultz, of White Bear Lake, Minn. She bought a 19-inch RCA LCD HDTV for $129.99, saving $70. But she said wouldn’t have bought it Thursday if she hadn’t been there for the charity walk.

“I don’t think shopping should be done on Thanksgiving,” Schultz said. “But they need to make money.”

Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch said the company decided to open at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day because reaction was so positive to the stores’ midnight opening last year. Before that, stores opened at 5 a.m. on Friday. He expects brisk sales of hot toys like Santa-ma-jig, a green and red singing doll.

“Customers lined up at 8 p.m. on last year. They wanted us to open earlier,” he said.

A similar promotional blitz greeted online shoppers Thursday, though the holiday isn’t a bonanza there, either.

Last year, consumers spent about $300 million online on Thanksgiving, compared with $887 million on Cyber Monday, according to comScore.

According to Akamai Technologies, which tracks traffic to 270 retail sites, traffic peaked at 11 a.m. and was up about 14 percent from Wednesday.

Early data from Coremetrics, an IBM company, from early afternoon showed that online Thanksgiving Day sales were up about 10 percent over Thanksgiving a year ago. The average order size was down 18 percent from a year ago to $130.50, but that figures was getting bigger as the day went on.

John Thompson, senior vice president and general manager of Best Buy Inc.’s website, said this year the company reached out to its frequent online shoppers and gave them early access to deals.

“Thanksgiving Day is a day when we are seeing more and more consumers choose online as a place to begin their research and actually transact,” he said.

With nearly 15 million unemployed in the U.S., some store workers were grateful for the holiday pay or extra time off that comes with working on a holiday.

Bryce Humerick, 21, of Towson, Md., a sales associate at the Old Navy store in Lutherville, said he was happy to be making time-and-a-half.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “My Thanksgiving dinner isn’t until later.”

Not everyone was so pleased.

In the hardware department of the Mall of America’s Sears, John McDonough had volunteered to work, but he bemoaned the increasing commercialization of the holiday season in general.

“It’s a crying shame,” he said. “What has corporate America done to us?”

Sarah Brumfield in Lutherville, Md., and Steve Karnowski in Bloomington, Minn., contributed to this report.

Cyber Monday Deals 2010

Cyber Monday Deals 2010, The 96.5 million people who shopped Cyber Monday last year (1) You can find online savings a day early, because once again, is to release its BestBuy.com specialties on Sunday, November 28. With online free shipping on hundreds of thousands of products until December 21 and a variety of practical options for in-store pickup, it has never been easier to shop the widest selection of gifts Top tech holiday wish lists.

“We heard from our customers that they are our online shopping channels, more than ever, and checking back often to get the best deals on the latest tech gifts,” said John Thompson, senior vice president and director General BestBuy.com. “We are committed to meet the changing needs of our customers with an online experience and delivery of products we know they want at the best price.”

Within two days of selling Internet, Best Buy is discounting select items online, including:

32 “LCD TV for only $ 259.99 to Save $ 100 on a Dell laptop with free GPS for $ 379.99 8GB iPod Touch Verizon HTC Incredible – free with 2 year activation (and reg price 599.99) Video Games $ 34.99, plus the purchase of 2 select titles and get a free $ 10 gift card 15% Off Select Major Appliances

Other features include Best Buy Cyber Week:

A New Hot Deal of the Day offers beginning November 30 through December 23. Available for only 24 hours, these agreements offer excellent value for online shoppers on the hottest gifts of holiday such as televisions, game machines, mobile phones and computers. Free shipping online on hundreds of thousands of products through December 21 to make it easier than ever for consumers to get their hands on the latest gifts, including all CD, DVD and Blu-Ray and game software and accessories. Most offers Internet sales will also be available for pickup in store with advanced options such as same-day pickup in store, the possibility of having someone else take the order or ship out of items in stock at Best Buy them at no extra cost. Cyber Trafficking week and complete solutions available on all online channels, including Best Buy mobile website, m.bestbuy.com. Customers can easily return BestBuy.com purchases at any Best Buy store

For more information on Cyber Monday, please visit www.bestbuy.com.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.

With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Mexico and Turkey, Best Buy is the multinational retailer of technology products and entertainment services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $ 49 billion in annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile; Audiovision, Carphone Warehouse, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star , Magnolia Audio Video, Napster, Pacific Sales and The Phone House. Approximately 180,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail outlets, call centers and multiple Web sites, home solutions, product delivery and activities in our communities. Community partnership is at the heart of how we do business at Best Buy. In fiscal 2010, we donated a combined 25.2 million and to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work.

For more information about Best Buy www.bby.com visit, and follow on Twitter @ BBYNews.

(1) From the National Retail Federation

SOURCE: Best Buy Co., Inc.

Cyber Monday 2009 Deals

Black Friday 2009 has just passed. The next big shopping event for most Americans is Cyber Monday 2009! Are you looking for some great Cyber Monday Deals this coming Cyber Monday 2009?

Amazon, one of the world’s largest online retailer have some great deals to offer to its customers! Get a jump on Cyber Monday. Amazon is putting their most amazing deals. Some deals are in limited supply and all of them will go quickly, but don’t worry if you miss one because Amazon keeps adding new ones up until Cyber Monday for you to grab!

Here are some of the great deals that Amazon has in participation of Cyber Monday 2009!

Cyber Monday 2009

Cyber Monday 2009 arrives a few short days after Black Friday.  On Cyber Monday, deals on all sorts of products are available from Internet retailers.  The difference between Cyber Monday 2009 and Black Friday is that instead of waking up in the wee hours of the morning to drive to a store, you wake up in the wee hours of the morning and turn on your computer and shop in the comfort of your own home.

Black Friday deals sold out fast in stores and on line.  Best Buy allowed shoppers to purchase doorbusters – with the exception of their $197 HP laptop deal – early, starting on Thanksgiving Day.  Most -if not all- of these deals are sold out.  Cyber Monday 2009 is yet another day where great deals are anticipated.

Thousands of people flocked to Toys R Us locations today in search of Zhu Zhu pets.  These robotic hamsters sold out quickly as well.  Many consumers are keeping their fingers crossed that Cyber Monday 2009 will bring great deals on robotic Zhu Zhu hamsters.

The retailers that you need to check out on Cyber Monday 2009 include:

www.amazon.com

www.walmart.com

www.target.com

www.redenvelope.com

www.overstock.com

In addition, check out www.cybermonday.com to locate deals on retailers you may not even think of shopping at, such as 1-800-Flowers and drugstore.com.

Davidson County residents are excited about Cyber Monday 2009, especially after realizing that some of the hottest deals of the season sold out quickly.

Cyber Monday Deals

As millions of people return to work next Monday and begin their holiday shopping from their desktops, at least 60 hotels – including some of Starwood Hotels’ top resorts – will try to fill rooms next year by tapping into the ceremonial Cyber Monday holiday shopping madness.
Will shoppers buy sweaters, electronics – and hotel getaways? That remains to be seen. But according to Shop.org’s eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, hotels can tap into a growing population.

About 54% of workers with Internet access – or about 69 million people – are expected to shop this coming Monday for holiday gifts from their workplace. Young adults ages 18-24 are the most likely age group to shop at work, and men are more likely than women, the survey says.

Yet while the numbers of potential buyers may be impressive, hotels still have their work cut out for them as retailers grab most of the attention. Most retailers surveyed (87%) said they plan to pitch customers with a special Cyber Monday deal this year, up slightly from last year’s 83%, according to the Shop.org survey. That raises the question: Will consumers think “vacation” when it comes to gift giving (even for themselves)?

These hotels – all experimenting with Cyber Monday specials for the first time – are betting that people will remember them on Monday. Some of the offers you’ll find:

Starwood Hotels (50):  Starwood on Cyber Monday will kick off a 3-day sale for 50 of its resorts ranging from the exotic to the nearby. The catch? You must book your vacation online on Starwood’s website. The special rates are good only for specific resorts and only during a specific period – Jan. 1 through April 30, 2010.  The benefit? You’ll save up to 45%. To get a preview of destinations, click here; the list ranges from the Bahamas and Bora Bora to Vancouver and Vermont. Examples include the Westin St. John Resort & Villas, with rooms starting at $289 a night, and the W Fort Lauderdale, with rooms starting at $229 a night. The cancellation policy is worth reading, because cancellations are non-refundable on this offer.

Affinia Hotels (7): Get 15% off your 2010 stay at any Affinia Hotel in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. by booking on Cyber Monday. How? Create or update your My Affinia profile between 12am and 11:59pm EST on Nov. 30.  Affinia will then give you discount code good for 15% off any Affinia stay through Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. If you’re among the first 50 people do this and book a room using the discount code, Affinia will also throw in a $50 American Express gift card upon check-in for that stay. Good news? The discount is valid at any of Affinia’s seven hotels, and there are no blackout dates. Bad news? It’s only good on the best available rate booked on Affinia’s web site and can’t be combined with any other packages or promos. Also, you can’t book the Cyber Monday promo until 12 am, Nov. 30.

The James Hotel (1): Buy gift certificates good at the hotel – called James Credits – on Nov. 30 and receive a second batch of James Credits of equal value for no extra money. The gift certificates can be redeemed anywhere inside the James, a luxury boutique hotel in Chicago, whether on a night’s stay or dinner at the hotel’s steakhouse, David Burke’s Primehouse, or drinks at the lounge or lobby bar. The idea is that customers might use one batch (say $100) for themselves and give the second, free batch (also $100) away as a gift.