REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 17, 2002 — Time is running out for procrastinating holiday shoppers. To help beat the clock, MSN®
Shopping is offering a Holiday Panic Button that takes shoppers directly to Procrastination Central, an area of the site that turns desperation into inspiration with great gift ideas categorized, organized and carefully selected to please even the most finicky friends and family members.
MSN Shopping’s Procrastination Central ( http://www.holidays.msn.com/ ) is the perfect site for the last-minute shopper who wants to avoid the holiday shopping crush. The site features a wide range of gifts and ideas for all possible holiday needs from jewelry to electronics or apparel. Procrastination Central highlights the last possible day that each item can be ordered for delivery by Dec. 25, and this year, select items can be ordered as late as the morning of Dec. 23.
To help the most die-hard procrastinator, MSN Shopping has a real-time gift concierge service available 24 hours a day. These shopping assistants can provide a personal touch to holiday shopping and help track down the perfect gift for the last few names on a shopping list.
“MSN Shopping’s Procrastination Central was designed to help ease holiday shopping anxiety and make it a fun experience,”
said James Barr, general manager of commerce services at MSN.
“With a shorter holiday shopping season, we expect to see even more last-minute shoppers this year. Procrastination Central offers consumers a centralized location where they can find great gift choices from trusted retailers and still have the gifts delivered in time for the holiday.”
Last year nearly a million people relied on MSN Shopping’s Procrastination Central to get their shopping done under the wire.
“For many, last-minute holiday shopping brings a sense of anxiety,”
Barr said.
“Procrastination Central makes last-minute shopping easy and offers a hassle-free experience.”
About MSN
MSN has 9 million subscriptions and attracts more than 300 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ . MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft®
Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp .
