AP Features, November 8th, 2007
Stores push wine refrigerators
NEW YORK (AP) — For the consummate entertainer, the temperature of a 2001 Chardonnay can make an evening. And with the holidays about seven weeks away, it can also make a great gift idea.
Analysts and retailers say wine refrigerators — the less expensive and more convenient alternative to the built-in wine cellar — are one of the hottest holiday gift items this year.
The coolers range in price from a $39.96 Kollatron single-bottle chiller to a Kitchen Aid 46-bottle stainless steel wine cellar with auto defrost, LED temperature display and a thermal glass door that retails for up to $1,500.
There are a myriad of cooler varieties to suit any wine drinker. Some coolers allow dual-drinkers to keep their whites chilled at one temperature and their reds warmed at another. Others are small, allowing studio apartment entertainers to grab a bottle right from the kitchen counter.
Target spokesman Susan Giesen said the store offers an expanded assortment of wine refrigerators during the holidays to appeal to "consumers who are looking to have something special for holiday entertaining or a gift for someone who has everything." The additional coolers were stocked on store shelves about two weeks ago in preparation for the holiday shopping season.
Target's in-store wine coolers range in price from $79.99 for an 8-bottle cooler to $199.99 for a 28-bottle stainless steel unit.
Chris Medin, home design coordinator at the Minneapolis-based Best Buy, said the wine coolers are "probably one of the most popular gadget-type gifts in kitchen appliances."
___ AP Business Writer Lauren Shepherd
Attention shoppers: Skip the turkey and shop online
NEW YORK (AP) — This holiday season, it's not enough for shoppers to surf the Web on Thanksgiving Day to get ready to pounce on those discounts on Black Friday. Stores want shoppers to splurge online while eating their turkey.
"There's a tremendous competition for really hot deals, so Black Friday can only get better," said Dan de Grandpre, founder of dealnews.com, a site that keeps track of store bargains. "It's great for consumers, but it is bad for profitability of retailers."
Black Friday is so named because it historically was when stores turned a profit.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which only offered one or two online specials on Thanksgiving Day, will now offer about 20 bargains. Amazon.com said that it will hold an ongoing poll to select one steeply discounted gift item to be offered in limited supplies beginning on Nov. 22. But de Grandpre believes that more mall-based apparel stores will be offering special online deals for Thanksgiving Day.
The moves reflect how stores are increasingly merging online with brick and mortar. Wal-Mart, for example, rolled out a program that allows shoppers to buy online and then have the merchandise shipped for free to a specific store; added consumer reviews to its site; and has launched a feature on its site that allows shoppers to find out whether a specific item is in stock at a particular store within a 24-hour period.
___ Business Writer Anne D'Innocenzio
Health insurer introduces get-well gift card
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Retail gift cards have given shoppers an indirect way to buy everything from books to music. A new card promises even more: a trip to the doctor or even elective surgery.
Pittsburgh health insurer Highmark Inc.'s Healthcare Visa Gift Card costs $4.95 and can carry amounts from $25 to $5,000, redeemable for co-pays for prescriptions, vision and dental care, and gym memberships, among other things.
Highmark believes the card is the first of its kind and is seeking to patent the idea.
"We do hope that it will go national," said Kim Bellard, the company's vice president of e-marketing and consumer relations and management. "Once we prove it in Pennsylvania, we'll look at how we roll it out across the rest of the country."
The card could enable a buyer to help someone with particular health needs, or to cover an appendectomy or an elective procedure such as Lasik surgery, Bellard said.
It also might promote the health care spending of a college student who might otherwise spend cash on beer, he said.
Highmark worked with Visa to develop the card, which can be used as a credit or debit card, but only with merchants categorized by Visa as health-related. "You could go to Rite Aid and buy a magazine ... so it's not perfect," he added.
Bellard said it was too early to measure the success of the card in terms of purchases, but that Highmark had received many inquiries about it, including those from other carriers interested in starting similar programs.
The card, introduced Nov. 1, is available at http://www.givewell.com.
Highmark is Pennsylvania's largest health insurer, with about 4.6 million members statewide.
_ Business Writer Daniel Lovering
