2012 Could Be The Best Holiday Shopping Season In Years
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Halloween is still two weeks away but major retailers are already fighting for your holiday shopping dollars.
Target is the latest to announce an aggressive price-matching policy -- saying it will match prices of major online retailers, including Amazon, starting Nov. 1.
It's a retail war where experts say one winner is already obvious -- you, the consumer.
This a major move by Target. They will match all online prices from Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Toys R Us and Babies R Us between Nov. 1 and Dec. 16.
Experts expect other retailers to begin discounting too -- and that means consumers should get some of the best deals ever.
At the Roseville Target, the Christmas display is already edging out Halloween and Target's announcement that it will match online competitors is already impressing shoppers. Maureen Todd regularly shops Amazon because of the low prices.
"Amazon, if it's a lot cheaper than I will go there but if they match the price for Amazon then it doesn't matter, I will just come here and buy it," she said.
St. Thomas University's Lorman Lundsten says Target's move is a response to increasingly popular online sales -- especially Amazon, which is the No. 1 online retailer in the nation.
Target is not alone -- Walmart has announced same-day delivery for online purchases during the holiday season.
Lundsten says the stakes this year are especially high because retailers are banking on the best Holiday Season in years.
"There is every sign that we are going to have a great holiday season," he said. "They are willing to sacrifice their profit margin to make it up in volume."
He says the Target announcement will force the hand of other retailers who, if they want to compete, will have to discount, too -- and that's all good for shoppers.
Target would not answer any specifics of how their policy will work but says all that information will be on their website on Oct. 22.
But that means, as WCCO's Laura Oakes reports, it might not be worth it to wait in line for those so-called "doorbuster" deals.
