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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Regina Lewis

Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: If you haven't marked off every name on your holiday gift list, you could be one of the millions of people checking out the sales this weekend. Retailers are slashing prices on everything from big ticket items to socks. They're hoping to lure procrastinating shoppers to deep discounts and round the clock sales on what has become the biggest shopping day of the year. Just what you wanted for Christmas, socks.
If you don't want to get in line at the stores, you may want to do your last minute shopping online. Believe it or not, you can still get deals before Christmas. AOL's online adviser Regina Lewis joins us from Washington with some shopping tips.

How are you doing, Regina.

REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good. Thanks, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: You know, you have to help me stay in the family will here, because there's one or two members of the San Miguel family still without gifts. I had heard December 18 or 19 was the cutoff date for shipping before December 25. You're saying it can still get there at this late date?

LEWIS: Well, with some notable exceptions. The biggies have geared up for this. You're not alone. Normally and traditionally it has been the 18 or 19, but now all the way up until Monday, big names like Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, J. Crew, Barnes & Noble in Manhattan -- they will order same day up to the 24th. Blue Nile, which is a diamond retailer, they have geared up for this. I talked to one site, Redenvelope.com, which you may know, is like the Tiffany's of the Internet, they actually have items stored in a warehouse on a tarmac next to a runway ready to be sent. You can order up to 11:00 p.m. on Monday. So they have really geared up for this, because you're not alone.

SAN MIGUEL: That's planning. I may have to check out Redenvelope.com. But you know, are the deals still out there? Is it going to cost me more or less for procrastinating?

LEWIS: Well, it's certainly going to cost you more on the shipping side. However, it might not cost you more on the item side, because this is really a very competitive business, and at this juncture, e-tailers, some of which are the major retailers, meaning they have both an offline and an online presence are saying, wait a second, these are overstocked items. We've got to unload this stuff, the clock is ticking. So some of the prices are actually coming down. So you may pay a premium on the shipping side, but you could pay a discount on the actual price of the merchandise. So look for bargains. Especially deep discount sites like Smartbargains.com and Overstocked.com, you will see up to 80 percent off. And if you don't have to have it in time for Christmas, think about waiting, because the e-tailers I've spoken to said you can't imagine the deals come Christmas Day and after.

SAN MIGUEL: And that's been in the offline world for years and years, and I guess that's repeated online, as well. Let's get to some of the tips here for the last minute shoppers, like myself. You mentioned shipping, looking for shipping deadlines and prices on the Web. Checking these. I mean, they should be up very high on the Web page, right?

LEWIS: They really are. And in fact, in many cases, there will be a pop-up, right on -- it will come straight up on the left-hand top, it will say here are the shipping specifics, because it's important. I think a lot of people are getting confused by this. Sometimes the sites have two banners, one says free shipping, the other says guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas. Those are two mutually exclusive thoughts. So you really want to read the fine print. At this point, you're not going to get free shipping in time for Christmas. So keep in mind, those are two very distinct offers.

SAN MIGUEL: OK, I've heard of bricks and clicks, but what about click and pick? Kind of the same concept, right?

LEWIS: Well, this is interesting. Again, a lot of the major e- tailors now are the major retailers, so they are able to do a lot of different things. Circuit City is a good example. You can order online, and up until the day prior, up until Christmas eve, you can pick the item up in the store. Now, why would you do that? A couple of reasons. One, you can avoid the lines. You go right to the customer service and pick it up. You don't have to wait in a line, and two, a lot of these hot items are selling out. So you can grab it. They'll pull it off the shelf and hold it for you. So a lot of people are going that route.

SAN MIGUEL: And we got about 30 seconds left here, but online gift certificates, there are still lots of those available out there, right?

LEWIS: Oh, absolutely. In fact, that's probably your best move at this juncture. Almost every retailer offers an online gift certificate. A site called Giftcertificates.com has all of them. There's something called a super online gift certificate, which means the recipient gets to pick both the retailer, meaning I could decide I want to spend it at Barnes & Nobles, I want to spend it at Banana Republic, and you get to decide the increments. Those could be e- mailed in a matter of minutes. You could send those Christmas morning if you wait that long.

SAN MIGUEL: I was going to say, don't tempt me any further than what I've already procrastinated here. Regina Lewis, AOL online adviser. Thanks for joining us. Have a good Christmas.

LEWIS: Sure. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: If you haven't marked off every name on your holiday gift list, you could be one of the millions of people checking out the sales this weekend. Retailers are slashing prices on everything from big ticket items to socks. They're hoping to lure procrastinating shoppers to deep discounts and round the clock sales on what has become the biggest shopping day of the year. Just what you wanted for Christmas, socks.
If you don't want to get in line at the stores, you may want to do your last minute shopping online. Believe it or not, you can still get deals before Christmas. AOL's online adviser Regina Lewis joins us from Washington with some shopping tips.

How are you doing, Regina.

REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good. Thanks, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: You know, you have to help me stay in the family will here, because there's one or two members of the San Miguel family still without gifts. I had heard December 18 or 19 was the cutoff date for shipping before December 25. You're saying it can still get there at this late date?

LEWIS: Well, with some notable exceptions. The biggies have geared up for this. You're not alone. Normally and traditionally it has been the 18 or 19, but now all the way up until Monday, big names like Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, J. Crew, Barnes & Noble in Manhattan -- they will order same day up to the 24th. Blue Nile, which is a diamond retailer, they have geared up for this. I talked to one site, Redenvelope.com, which you may know, is like the Tiffany's of the Internet, they actually have items stored in a warehouse on a tarmac next to a runway ready to be sent. You can order up to 11:00 p.m. on Monday. So they have really geared up for this, because you're not alone.

SAN MIGUEL: That's planning. I may have to check out Redenvelope.com. But you know, are the deals still out there? Is it going to cost me more or less for procrastinating?

LEWIS: Well, it's certainly going to cost you more on the shipping side. However, it might not cost you more on the item side, because this is really a very competitive business, and at this juncture, e-tailers, some of which are the major retailers, meaning they have both an offline and an online presence are saying, wait a second, these are overstocked items. We've got to unload this stuff, the clock is ticking. So some of the prices are actually coming down. So you may pay a premium on the shipping side, but you could pay a discount on the actual price of the merchandise. So look for bargains. Especially deep discount sites like Smartbargains.com and Overstocked.com, you will see up to 80 percent off. And if you don't have to have it in time for Christmas, think about waiting, because the e-tailers I've spoken to said you can't imagine the deals come Christmas Day and after.

SAN MIGUEL: And that's been in the offline world for years and years, and I guess that's repeated online, as well. Let's get to some of the tips here for the last minute shoppers, like myself. You mentioned shipping, looking for shipping deadlines and prices on the Web. Checking these. I mean, they should be up very high on the Web page, right?

LEWIS: They really are. And in fact, in many cases, there will be a pop-up, right on -- it will come straight up on the left-hand top, it will say here are the shipping specifics, because it's important. I think a lot of people are getting confused by this. Sometimes the sites have two banners, one says free shipping, the other says guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas. Those are two mutually exclusive thoughts. So you really want to read the fine print. At this point, you're not going to get free shipping in time for Christmas. So keep in mind, those are two very distinct offers.

SAN MIGUEL: OK, I've heard of bricks and clicks, but what about click and pick? Kind of the same concept, right?

LEWIS: Well, this is interesting. Again, a lot of the major e- tailors now are the major retailers, so they are able to do a lot of different things. Circuit City is a good example. You can order online, and up until the day prior, up until Christmas eve, you can pick the item up in the store. Now, why would you do that? A couple of reasons. One, you can avoid the lines. You go right to the customer service and pick it up. You don't have to wait in a line, and two, a lot of these hot items are selling out. So you can grab it. They'll pull it off the shelf and hold it for you. So a lot of people are going that route.

SAN MIGUEL: And we got about 30 seconds left here, but online gift certificates, there are still lots of those available out there, right?

LEWIS: Oh, absolutely. In fact, that's probably your best move at this juncture. Almost every retailer offers an online gift certificate. A site called Giftcertificates.com has all of them. There's something called a super online gift certificate, which means the recipient gets to pick both the retailer, meaning I could decide I want to spend it at Barnes & Nobles, I want to spend it at Banana Republic, and you get to decide the increments. Those could be e- mailed in a matter of minutes. You could send those Christmas morning if you wait that long.

SAN MIGUEL: I was going to say, don't tempt me any further than what I've already procrastinated here. Regina Lewis, AOL online adviser. Thanks for joining us. Have a good Christmas.

LEWIS: Sure. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com