Blue Christmas

In a special programming partnership with Yahoo! that kicked off last month, Sears set up an online hub at www.yahoo.com/sears tied to the wishing theme. People can chat about their dream gifts and sign up for Wishing Hours and wish lists.

The hub incorporates Yahoo! Answers, a popular service that lets people ask questions and get answers from real people. Visitors can vote for their favorite gifts and see what others voted for or post photos of the reactions of people receiving a present on Yahoo! Flicker.

Lands' End is offering free shipping on all orders. And last month, Saks' home page featured 30% to 40% discounts on certain items.

Penney developed a microsite at www.JCPGifts.com where people could find gifts, print personalized gift tags, send e-greetings, check on specials and sign up for text-message alerts.

Gift cards could be big sellers again this year. Consumers are expected to spend $26.3 billion on them — and that number could go up. Last year's prediction was $24.8 billion, but the actual figure turned out to be $27.8 billion. Of the shoppers surveyed by the National Retail Federation and BIGresearch, 87.7% plan to purchase two or more cards.

But some buyers might be turned off to the cards after a full-page ad in The New York Times. It read: “Last year, shoppers like you were out $8 billion because of unused, lost or expired gift cards. Easy money for retailers. Lost money for you.”

This claim was based on a poll by the Consumer Reports National Research Center showing that 27% of consumers who received gift cards for the holidays in 2006 have not yet used one or more of them — up from 19% at the same time last year. More than half said they didn't have time to redeem the cards, 35% said they couldn't find anything they wanted and another third completely forgot they'd even received a card.

Even so, gift-card displays are stocked with an array of offerings, from special die-cuts to scents to glow-in-the-dark versions. Borders lets customers personalize the cards with photos or special designs.

In the end, retailers can be forgiven for being nervous. Over 25% of their annual sales are generated during the holidays, according to BDO Seidman's recent survey of retail chief marketing officers.

“There's heightened anxiety about being able to meet overall sales numbers, but also [about] comparable store sales,” says Ted Vaughan, assurance partner in the retail and consumer product practice at BDO Seidman. “There's greater concern, which should spell some good opportunities for customers.”