This year’s holiday season is expected to be stronger for retailers, but it will come at a price for them and a bargain for you: They’ll have to offer lucrative discounts, often in the form of coupons, experts say.
So it will pay off handsomely if you know retailers’ promotion strategies and the most useful online sites for 2010 holiday season gift-giving.
Consumers will be especially price-conscious this year, said Jack Kleinhen, chief economist for the National Retail Federation. “Retailers are expected to compensate for this fundamental shift in shopper mentality by offering significant promotions throughout the holiday season,” he said. Holiday sales are expected to increase 2.3 percent, which is better than the past two dismal years but shy of a normal year, which would be a 2.5 percent increase, the trade group says. And issuing coupons is among the top strategies to boost sales of such popular gifts as apparel and electronics, according to a federation report.
Here’s an early-bird guide to smart holiday shopping with coupons this year.
_Online promo codes: Shopping online can be a great idea, because it’s easy to shop for good prices, and the Web provides a wide selection. Gifts are delivered directly to you or the recipient. But don’t finish checking out of your virtual shopping cart without hunting for a promotional code, also called a coupon code. You can get free shipping, a percentage off your order or dollars off. The easiest way to find a code is to use a search engine. Query the name of the retailer, and such phrases as “coupon code” or “promo code.” You can also visit a coupon aggregator, some of which claim to test codes so that you’re less likely to waste time with an expired one. Popular coupon aggregators include RetailMeNot.com and CouponCabin.com. Aggregator CouponWinner.com has a…