RETAILERS TO LURE HOLIDAY SHOPPERS WITH BARGAINS

By Nathaniel Luce

Publication: WASHINGTON TIMES

Shopping malls have been adorned with Christmas decorations for weeks, and most Santas showed up on the heels of Halloween, yet the holiday shopping season has not officially started. “This year we’re hearing these doomsday predictions,” said DAWN IACOBUCCI, professor of marketing at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, Tenn. She said retailers are responding with a method that appeals to all socioeconomic levels: bargains.”Hunker down to the basics,” she said of the emphasis on price this shopping season, which began a little earlier than usual this year.