After blusterous snowstorms kept millions of East Coast shoppers home last weekend, a number of traditional and Internet retailers have decided to bump back deadlines and offer free express shipping in order to help out desperate customers and try to cash in on the holiday hysteria.In particular, the world’s largest online retailer Amazon.com has pushed back the deadline for standard shipping by an extra day, while Macy’s online division has announced that it free shipping to its customers through Monday.As thick blankets of snow covered much of New
England and the Carolinas all weekend keeping most shoppers homebound, Web analysts at Coremetrics said that online retailers enjoyed a significant bump in business, up nearly 25 percent over last year’s figures for the same days.Activity on retail websites peaked on Saturday evening as an average of 2.9 million shoppers per minute browsed through various online retailers’ catalogues—more than twice the number registered on the Saturday before Christmas last year.Web retail has been one of the few sectors of the economy that has remained strong this holiday season as millions of Americans have grown thrifty in the face of uncertain economic times. MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse has estimated that online sales climbed a respectable 14.4 percent between the Friday after Thanksgiving and December 12.Market research analysts at NPD Group sent analysts to Long Island malls on Monday to check the proverbial pulse of holiday shoppers. Marshal Cohen, the company’s chief retail industry analyst, said that as the
shopping season is winding down people are getting “serious about shopping” and trying to make up for lost time. In an attempt to accommodate the latecomers, big name retailers like J.C.
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