Passage 6 Shoppers Return to Malls, Looking for Deals
零售商促销有术 《今日美国》

[00:01]Shoppers returned to malls Saturday, rummaging through thinly stocked shelves
[00:07]hunting for deals, next year's Christmas gifts and, for most, gifts for themselves.
[00:15]Retailers made a push to woo gift-card-toting shoppers by slashing prices
[00:22]and offering doorbuster deals often reserved for the day after Thanksgiving.
[00:30]Diana Mayfield, a 56-year-old business trainer from Jacksonville, Ill.
[00:38]managed to get two Christmas ornaments for $6, marked down from $28.
[00:46]She was out before dawn Saturday, scouring for next year's Christmas gifts.
[00:54]"It's 60% off original, so that's pretty good,"
[00:59]she said while eyeing a rack of sweaters.
[01:03]"I usually get my electronics the day after Thanksgiving,
[01:08]and we get clothes and paper goods the day after Christmas."
[01:14]Knowing shoppers would likely spend less,
[01:19]merchants carefully managed inventory this Christmas.
[01:24]That meant on Dec. 26, some store shelves were practically empty.
[01:32]Donna Brown, a 52-year-old hair dresser from Seaford, Del.,
[01:39]visited The Centre at Salisbury on Tuesday
[01:44]but returned Saturday to find few pairs of the $11.99 pajamas
[01:51]she'd been eyeing at J.C. Penney, which opened at 5 a.m.
[01:57]"Now there's nothing," she said. "Everything's been picked over."
[02:04]The week after Christmas is big business for retailers,
[02:09]making up 15% of sales last year, according to research from ShopperTrak.
[02:17]Thanks to a fluke in the calendar,
[02:20]merchants have a whole weekend to entice shoppers immediately after Christmas.
[02:27]That meant many stores were offering expanded hours Saturday
[02:33]and extra deals hoping crowds of gift-card-toting shoppers would snap up goods.
[02:41]Retailers received a much-needed last-minute sales surge in the final days
[02:48]before Dec. 25, fueled by shoppers who delayed buying,
[02:53]waited for bigger discounts that never came
[02:57]or were slowed by last weekend's big East Coast snowstorm.
[03:03]But now they're counting on the days after Christmas
[03:07]to perk up overall holiday sales in a season that looks like it's modestly
[03:13]better than last year's disaster.
[03:18]The full holiday picture won't be known until merchants report December sales Jan.7.
[03:25]But most expect merchants' fourth-quarter profits should be intact
[03:32]because they didn't press the panic button.
[03:36]ShopperTrak is sticking to its prediction for a 1.6% gain,
[03:42]compared with a 5.9% drop a year ago.
[03:48]The National Retail Federation expects that total retail sales will slip 1%,
[03:55]though some experts say that might be a bit too cautious.
[04:01]A year ago, they fell 3.4% by the trade group's calculations.