Winter Holidays

Los Angeles -- Mobile shopping continues to rise, with almost one-quarter (23%) of consumers planing to shop using a mobile device this year, up 44% from 2012, according to PriceGrabber’s second Winter Holiday Survey. In addition, when respondents were asked to select all the ways they plan to shop for gifts, 88% said online from a desktop computer and 47% said they plan to visit brick and mortar stores, with 46% who plan to make fewer trips to retail stores this year.

New York - Forty-one percent of respondents are expecting to make purchases in-store this holiday season more often than they did last year, which should make for a busy Black Friday, according to MasterCard’s 2013 Holiday Spending Survey.

The survey also found that more than half of Americans who use their debit or credit card for holiday purchases and have a rewards program plan to cash in their points this season. Of this group, 40% will strategically spend on one card only to rack up rewards points.

In other findings:

Chicago -- Eighty-six percent of consumers plan to use their phones this holiday season, and it goes beyond looking up prices. Vibes, a mobile marketing technology vendor, revealed consumer research presenting the specific ways shoppers plan to use their mobile phones to check off their lists this holiday season.

Topping the list is looking up product information in order to trigger purchase decisions (53%) followed by finding specific store information such as location and hours (48%). Other key findings include:

Yonkers, N.Y. -- Two-thirds of shoppers will spend the same amount of money (54%) or more money (12%) than they did last year. A new Consumer Reports poll also reveals that 33% will spend less money, similar to the 37% who said the same when asked last year.

Worthington, Ohio — Target, Kohl’s, Costco, Macy’s and Old Navy, with an honorable mention to J.C. Penney, are the holiday 2013 retail winners, according to business intelligence provider Prosper Insights & Analytics.  The firm on Tuesday released its  Holiday 2013 Retail Winners & Losers list at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail Conference.

Walmart will kick off a pre-Black Friday savings event in stores and online at 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 22. The big box retailer is lowering prices on toys and electronics to match select Black Friday offers from Target, Toys “R” Us and Best Buy one week early.

Bloomington, Ill. -- Six in 10 (61%) holiday shoppers this year plan to use cash, check or debit card to pay for most of their holiday purchases. Just 29% say they will use credit, according to the latest Country Financial Security Index.

Framingham, Mass. -- The TJX Companies reported better-than-expected net income of $622.6 million for the third quarter, up 35% million from $461.5 million in the year-ago period. The chain also raised its full-year guidance.

Net sales grew about 9% to $6.98 billion from $6.41 billion as bargain-hunting consumers flocked to its stores. Same-store sales rose 5%. The chain credited the ability of its off-price format to succeed in any economic environment as a key component of its strong quarterly performance.