REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 14, 2006 — Last-minute holiday shoppers, rejoice! Great gifts from top retailers are still available and, better yet, without the worry and hassle of fighting crowds at the malls. Procrastination Central from MSN® Shopping at http://shopping.msn.com offers last-minute shoppers an online shopping “cheat sheet” listing stores that can deliver gifts in time for the holidays. Because Procrastination Central updates the shipping cutoff dates for a variety of merchants daily, shoppers will have peace of mind from knowing that their gift will arrive on time.
Procrastination Central allows people to finish their holiday shopping with tools that make it easy to browse, select, purchase and deliver gifts for their loved ones. The U.S. version of the site lists thousands of products from hundreds of top retailers that include Amazon.com, Blue Nile Inc., Brookstone, Circuit City, drugstore.com inc., Godiva, Target and Williams Sonoma.
Most people intend to shop early during the holiday season but rarely do, according to the U.S. Online Retail Holiday Forecast 2006 from JupiterResearch. Instead they end up making purchases later in the season each year.
MSN Shopping makes it easy for shoppers to secure that perfect last-minute gift at the perfect price. Shoppers can compare more than 30 million products from over 8,000 stores all in one place. The site features a new online coupons section, which is updated daily, and offers interactive gift guides for Him, Her, Baby, Kids, Teens and Pets as well as ideas for Hot Gifts under $25, Romantic & Sexy Gifts, Stocking Stuffers, and Editors’ Picks. Shoppers can even find free, expert buying advice provided by Consumer Reports and MSN’s own staff of editors to help shoppers find the best values.
MSN Shopping has seen unprecedented holiday traffic this season. From the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday” in the retail industry, through “Cyber Monday,” the unofficial kickoff of the online holiday shopping season, MSN Shopping recorded 21 percent more visits compared with the same period in 2005. Increase in traffic is believed to be due to MSN Shopping’s improved selection, handcrafted gift guides, popular Sales & Deals page, and tighter integration with MSN and Live Search.
About MSN and Windows Live
MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Windows Live™, a new set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov. 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be found at http://ideas.live.com. Windows Live is available at http://www.live.com. 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 solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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.mspx.
