Where the deals are

Macy‘s is having a sale, 10-50% off online and free shipping with $100 in purchases or more. Sears.com has “24 months no interest” on electronics, big discounts (up to $500) on fancy TVs, and free shipping online for $99 in purchases or more. Likewise, JC Penney.com has toys 30% to 70% off, and free shipping on orders of $49 or more.

What gives?

CNN reports that “According to analysts, as much as 63 percent of sales that merchants log during the critical five-week holiday gift-buying marathon come in the final two weeks of the season. For e-tailers, the heaviest shopping day of the 2006 holiday shopping period is also expected to occur this week.”

So the big online retailers (or ‘e-tailers’) are preparing for the surge of traffic, and they want to make sure that as much of it as possible comes to them. That’s good for shoppers, right? Not really. Online purchasing is set to increase at least 25% from last year, according to ComScore Networks. So while the e-tailers want your business, they aren’t desperate. In fact, they’re doing great.

But here’s an interesting tidbit from the same article:

“What we know from our consumer survey this past weekend is that people said they have completed 36 percent of their holiday shopping so far. Last year they had completed 50 percent or more of their holiday shopping at this time,” said Michael Niemira, retail economist with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).”

Wow, that’s got to be scary to the brick and mortar stores. In fact, the physical stores are quite worried about making their sales targets, and are offering much better deals than their cyberspace sisters. This is certainly true of Best Buy, which is offering far better bargains in person than online. The same is true of J.C. Penney, which is offering $15 off, if you buy $75 or more, in store only.

Walmart actually had fewer shoppers this past weekend compared to last year, and those customers seem to have gone to Target, Best Buy and Toys R Us, all of which gained shoppers last weekend.

So apparently “Wal-Mart executives recently hinted that the company may set more toy price cuts. Wal-Mart’s already slashed prices on toys twice so far. Toys “R” Us, the largest independent toy seller, quickly responded to Wal-Mart’s challenge by announcing more toys price cuts at stores and extended store hours.”

So while ordering merchandise online is relatively painless, and easily allows you to compare items (especially at BizRate.com and mysimon.com) you aren’t necessarily seeing the cheapest available prices, even from the same retailer. Now that we are so close to Christmas (and Hannukah is practically upon us, beginning sundown Dec 15), you will soon start paying more for shipping online purchases, anyway.

So, the real price wars are out in the malls, and if you want to take advantage of them, I’m afraid you’re going to have to fight the crowds and get out there. That’s where the deals are.