Seasonal

As the online shopping window is closing for traditional home delivery, PetSmart is offering free same-day shipments until Dec. 24.   The service is available in 17 metro areas across the nation, including Boston, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, San Jose, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, Yonkers and Northern New Jersey. Overall, the same-day deliveries will cover nearly 2,500 ZIP codes.   

Consumers are spending more money per gift online this holiday season than last — 49% more to be exact.   That’s according to e-gifting platform and service Look Commerce, which announced insights into consumer gifting behavior and top gifts purchased between Dec. 10 and Dec. 16, 2016.  

Luxury brands seems to be going the extra mile this holiday season.   This is according to “2016 Holiday Shipping,” a report from Kurt Salmon, part of Accenture Strategy, that analyzed orders with 84 retailers across a broad range of categories on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2016. The study analyzed online orders that were shipped to consumers, as well as those collected in-store, to measure shipping speed, accuracy and cost.  

The wealthiest segment of the U.S. population is cutting back a little this holiday season.      

The union that represents cargo pilots who fly Amazon goods has launched online ads that warn staffing problems could lead to delayed deliveries.       The ads, set to run on Facebook and Google, link to a site called “Can Amazon Deliver?” that outlines alleged staffing issues at two cargo airlines from which Amazon leases planes, reported ReCode.  

The biggest shopping day of the year is approaching, and shoppers are ready — almost 156 million, to be exact.    On Saturday, Dec. 17, 66% of Americans – an estimated 155.7 million people –plan to or are considering taking advantage of Super Saturday sales to complete their holiday gift list, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The survey, which asked 6,890 consumers about their holiday shopping plans, was conducted Dec. 1 - 7.

Best Buy pulled out its latest weapon in the battle to win last-minute holiday shoppers: free shipping.     For the third year in a row, Best Buy will offer free expedited shipping in the final stretch of the holiday season. Starting Thursday, Dec. 15 through 11:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Dec. 21, BestBuy’s online shoppers will automatically have their shipping upgraded to two-day shipping on almost everything.     

As the holiday shopping season enters the home stretch, it’s brand’s last chance to deliver the categories shoppers need to complete their gift purchases.