Seasonal

Holiday shopping continues to encroach on Thanksgiving with Walmart the latest retailer to reveal plans that its promotional activity will begin at 6 p.m. with an expanded range of featured items, price guarantees, deeper inventory levels and detailed crowd control procedures.

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports grew 6.5% in October over the same month last year despite the government shutdown, and year-over-year increases are expected to continue for the remainder of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

New York -- Thirty-eight percent of shoppers are likely to shop on Thanksgiving Day this year, according to Accenture’s annual Holiday Shopping Survey. Of those shoppers planning to hit the stores on Thanksgiving, 41% said they will be out shopping between 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and 5 a.m. the next morning.

Lowe’s is kicking off the holiday season by positioning itself as the go-to place for DIYers to shop for materials that will allow them to tackle budget-friendly DIY projects so they can prepare their homes for the holidays.

The home improvement retailer has a dedicated landing page offering inspiration from do-it-yourselfers and designers, including Design Mom, Little Green Notebook, Brit + Co., Curbly and P.S. – I made this… and Oh Happy Day.

If avoiding large crowds is your criteria for tackling the holiday shopping season, then ShopperTrak has some advice for you.

ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics, has identified the 10 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas likely to have the least amount of in-store holiday shopper traffic, making them the best days to shop for consumers looking to do their shopping in a less frenzied environment.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak predicts that Wednesday, Dec. 4, will be the best day for consumers to shop this holiday season with the least amount of store shopper traffic.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. -- Kohl’s on Monday announced an array of Black Friday sales events, kicking off at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

Games, giveaways, book signings and personalized recommendations will be offered as part of “Discovery Friday,” event Barnes & Noble has planned for November 22 to pre-empt the doorbuster madness that will occur the following week on Black Friday.