WEIRDLAND: Retail coupons & discount shopping

Friday, March 02, 2012

Retail coupons & discount shopping

"Amidst the myriad days working at a Texas retail store selling makeup and liquid drain killer, then coming home to a perpetually stoned husband, Justine decides to hunt for some excitement.

She finds something new and different in the store's new clerk, Holden (Gyllenhaal, also in "Donnie Darko"). Holden, a moody 22-year-old who has modeled himself after the same-named character from "The Catcher in the Rye", feels nobody understands him. But his feelings suddenly change once he meets Justine. So one day Holden asks Justine to meet him in front of Chuck E. Cheese's (let the romance begin), and the two begin an awkward affair". Source: everything2.com

Holden: [in a letter to Justine] "Dear Justine, because of you I will be quitting the Retail Rodeo. The last two days have been the most God awful of my life. I've not been able to get rid of you in my head. I've never wanted anything so bad and I have wanted many things. I'd given up long ago on being gotten by someone else, and then you came along. The idea that I could be gotten because of circumstance or never get got is the worst feeling I've ever felt and I have felt many bad feelings. I'm sorry I can never see you again, Justine. Forgive me for being so weak, but that is who I am. Goodbye. Holden Worther. If, for some reason, you could change your mind and wanna be with me body and soul, meet me after work. I will be waiting for you at 5pm outside Chuck E. Cheese. If you are not there at 5 you will never see me again in your lifetime".

While people may expect retailers to track their online shopping, "They don't expect that same science to be used to peer into their bedroom," says Duhigg, a New York Times business reporter. But retail consultant Kevin Sterneckert says that's "exactly what so many retailers are doing today" so they can market to people in the different "life stages."

Analysis of shoppers ranges from mundane methods, such as counting the number of teens who walk in after school, to the high-tech, such as digital signs with cameras that can detect where people's eyes move and direct promotions to that part of the screen.

By calculating who is shopping when and which demographic groups are buying, stores can target them with the promotions that are more likely to resonate. They do this with their own analytics departments, bolstered with some of the consultants and technology suppliers that made up more than 3 acres of exhibit space at the National Retail Federation 's annual conference in January.

"When there was a single store in town in the 1920s, that shopkeeper knew everything about his customers," says Sterneckert, VP of retail research at business advisory firm Gartner Group . "Now, you have mega chains where it's impossible for the store manager or buyer to know individual preferences. But they can analyze transactions and determine patterns." (USA Today)


Online coupons are just another way to save but can be hard to find if you don’t know where to look. Plus some of these discounts aren’t well advertised. There are a list of coupons and links for some of the biggest retailers and deals to help you save on your next shopping trip. You’ll find free printable coupons, coupon codes, and tips for getting extra discounts.

You can save when shopping at Justice, a clothing retail shop geared toward ‘tween’ girls. There are clothing categories for most occasions, including school uniforms. Justice provides ‘tweens’ with a chance to start dressing less elementary, yet not quite high school, so it is a great option for clothes that are likely to be grown out of quickly and offers up-to-date styles.

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