Winter Holidays

Grand Rapids, Mich. - Meijer made the holidays very merry for 213 unsuspecting customers recently when those shoppers received a big surprise upon checkout – their entire shopping cart filled with gifts and groceries given to them as a holiday gift.

During the “Very Merry Meijer” event, one customer at each of the retailer's 213 stores across the Midwest was randomly selected on Dec. 13 to receive their purchases free.

Minneapolis – Some customers are only midway through the race to finish their holiday shopping, some haven’t even left the starting line, but Best Buy is offering help to make sure they reach the finish line by Dec. 24. Best Buy Co Inc. is making thousands of products on BestBuy.com eligible for a free shipping upgrade.  

Petaluma, Calif. - Retailers were seeing green the second week of December. For the week that included “Green Monday,” Dec. 8, retailers using the MarketLive e-commerce platform achieved a year-over-year revenue growth rate of 11.5%, while visits grew just 8.6%.   

Los Angeles - When it comes to making online selections, Christmas shoppers are better late than never. A survey released by Bizrate Insights, a division of Connexity, found that many shoppers are still making online holiday purchases, even though there are only a few days left before Christmas. In fact, only 17% of shoppers have finished their Christmas shopping.  

New York - The Brits are no slouches when it comes to holiday advertisements.

The competition between British retail giants to come up with the most compelling TV ad grows more intense every holiday season.

This year, the biggest initial buzz was created by Sainsbury, with its depiction of the famous Christmas truce on the battlefields of World War I.

Walmart has announced the 75 winners of its Food Pantry Holiday Makeover campaign, which gifts a food pantry organization with a $20,000 grant for renovations. 

Seattle - Starbucks Corp. anticipates record purchases of Starbucks gift cards on Dec. 24, citing the trend for customers to push their gift card purchases later and later. In 2013, more than 2 million Starbucks Cards were purchased in the U.S. and Canada on Christmas Eve, representing nearly 1,500 cards purchased per minute.  

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS/pharmacy is making it an omnichannel holiday for its customers this year. Consumers can follow @CVS_Extra on Twitter to learn about upcoming promotions and ways to win a variety of gift items through special contests.