Ty Pennington and Sears Offer Tips to Give Holiday Shopping an Extreme Makeover
Ty Pennington, star of ABC's smash hit, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE: S) together have designed helpful holiday tips to renovate the stressful shopping season and create the most time possible for families to celebrate together.
"There's so much to get done in so little time," says Pennington. "Just like on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, when it comes to shopping you've got to be fast on your feet, creative and ideally identify a single resource for all your solutions within your budget parameters. Sears is a perfect example of just that -- all the coolest stuff people want under one roof."
Sears is where America shops and Pennington -- who is currently featured in Sears advertising, marketing and community outreach initiatives -- is America's hottest makeover artist. Pennington's extreme shopping tips will allow consumers to shape their shopping routines to meet their needs and make family shopping more fun.
* Five words: Listen to what they want. Guide conversations with family
and friends toward things they like to do, want to do or never dare
dream to do. Then listen to what they have to say very carefully. Even
better, interview them -- just do it stealthily -- about their New
Year's resolutions (fix things around the house? buy him a laser-guided
measuring tool); their dream vacation (hiking through India? buy them a
West Peak 2-person "Zen" tent); their favorite movie ("The Wizard of
Oz"? buy them the DVD and a portable DVD player).
* Running around is sooo last year. Plan ahead and be prepared. Make a
list of all the gifts you plan to give and organize your shopping so you
can buy similar gifts all at once. Dad's new Apex Portable DVD Player
and Junior's new Sony Network MP3 will be nearby in home electronics,
while new Lands' End pajamas for Grandma and the perfect Apostrophe lace
skirt for sis will both be easy to find in apparel. Shop department by
department instead of person by person -- you'll save time and energy!
* Avoid analysis paralysis. Don't overthink things -- would your best
friend prefer the Covington mint green cashmere sweater or the moss
green cashmere sweater? Just go with your gut. People aren't half as
hard to please as you may think!
* Remember to pull up your patient socks. The traffic is always a
nightmare and the crowds can be overwhelming. Just breathe and enjoy
the shopping experience.
* Stand and deliver. Remember to have fun. Enjoy the season. It's crazy,
exciting and demanding, but it's still the most wonderful time of year,
so hit the stores with a spouse or friend. Have them stand in line
while you do the shopping. Two considerations: One, make sure the
stander is in view of the large-screen TVs in the electronics department
if possible. Two, make sure you get your shopping done with funds
available for spontaneous purchases!
* Let the kids have at it. Tweens and teens love to play, but often don't
love to shop. Combine the two and you've got a winner. Let them loose to
look for a gift for grandma or Uncle Fred, but give them a half hour and
a price limit and see what they bring back. Whoever picks out the
perfect gift gets an extra 15 minutes on the cell phone this month.
* Slippers are great -- vibrating foot-massaging slippers are better. Push
your gift ideas to the extreme. Grandma likes coffee? Wake her up with a
new Cocoa Latte Maker instead of a conventional coffeemaker. Aunt Tillie
likes camping? Hike on past the traditional tents and give her a
71-piece Emergency Travel Kit. Cousin Bessie likes to pad around the
house in slippers? Four words: vibrating foot massaging slippers.
* Keep all of your receipts. Make sure your gift is refundable. You
always want to give a gift that someone can use. So if you didn't get
friends and family the gift they really wanted, they can return or
exchange it and get something on their list.
* Give until it feels good. Buying gifts for friends and family is great,
but buying gifts for kids and others in need helps keep things in
perspective. Barbie's on sale? Buy two, one for your niece and one for a
deserving child. A cozy fleece bathrobe caught your eye but you don't
really have anyone on your list that would enjoy it? There's always a
needy senior citizen who would appreciate its warmth.
About Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. With revenues in 2003 of $41.1 billion, the company offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,300 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the U.S. and Canada, which includes approximately 870 full-line and 1,100 specialty stores in the U.S. Sears also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs. Sears is the only retailer where consumers can find each of the Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Lands' End brands together -- among the most trusted and preferred brands in the U.S. The company is the largest provider of product repair services with more than 14 million service calls made annually.
SOURCE: Sears, Roebuck and Co.
CONTACT: MEDIA CONTACTS: Corinne Gudovic of Sears, Roebuck and Co.,
+1-847-286-3226, cgudovi@sears.com; Megan McMahon, +1-312-297-7593,
megan.mcmahon@edelman.com, for Sears, Roebuck and Co.
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