Holiday Shopping Procrastination: It's Not Just for Men Anymore; Circuit City Offers Quick Solutions for Time-Starved Consumers

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 11  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With Christmas right around the corner, a new national survey shows more women are joining the ranks of last-minute shoppers.

More than 2,200 American moms and dads responded to the survey, which was commissioned by electronics retailer Circuit City Stores, Inc.  More than half of survey respondents indicated they are usually still shopping for gifts within a week of the holiday, and one in five confessed they only finish shopping on Christmas Eve.  The number of women admitting they shop at the last minute nearly doubled from a similar survey conducted just two years ago, and now closely resembles the number of male procrastinators (20 percent of moms, 22 percent of dads).

Time-starved shoppers are using a combination of strategies to beat the clock and complete their holiday gift buying.

  Buy online, pick up in stores:
  * 59 percent said they prefer to shop in stores and online
  * 57 percent said it's important to let shoppers choose between picking up
    their online purchase in a nearby store or having the product shipped



Circuit City, a leader in fulfilling online purchases in stores, offers shoppers a 24/24 Pickup Guarantee(SM).  This fast and convenient pickup feature guarantees that Web orders placed for in-store pickup will be ready within 24 minutes, or customers will receive a $24 gift card. Customers can use this feature when shopping online (or by calling 1-800-THE-CITY) through 5:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Note that our stores will close on Christmas Eve at 6:00 p.m. local time.

Gift Cards:

Good news for last-minute shoppers: 97 percent of survey respondents said they like to receive gift cards, which are quick and easy to purchase.  When asked specifically why they enjoy receiving gift cards, respondents said:

  * they can get the gift they want, when they want it (59 percent)
  * a gift card liberates the recipient to get something they normally
    wouldn't (23 percent)
  * they can combine gift cards to purchase something bigger (11 percent)



This holiday season, Circuit City is offering a DVD interactive gift card that includes downloadable goodies such as a holiday game, holiday screen savers, printable gift tags, free songs and an offer for 50 free song downloads.  DVD interactive gift cards are available for purchase in-store only.  For the true, world-class procrastinator, http://www.circuitcity.com/ offers an electronic gift card that can be emailed to the recipient instantly.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines:

For online shoppers, circuitcity.com guarantees ground delivery by Christmas for all orders placed by 1 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 2006, excluding music, movies, toys and kids electronics.  Customers can upgrade shipping to 3-day, 2-day or express shipping for quicker delivery.

The holiday shopping survey was conducted for Circuit City by independent research firm Decision Analyst, Inc. of Arlington, Texas.  The survey's margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.

About Circuit City Stores, Inc.

Circuit City Stores, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics and related services. The domestic segment operates through 641 Superstores and 11 other locations in 158 U.S. markets. The international segment operates through more than 950 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. Circuit City also operates Web sites at http://www.circuitcity.com/, http://www.thesourcecc.ca/ and at http://www.firedog.com/.

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DATASOURCE: Circuit City Stores, Inc.



CONTACT: Jackie Foreman, Public Relations of Circuit City Stores, Inc.,

[phone]



Web site:  http://www.circuitcity.com/

http://www.thesourcecc.ca/

http://www.firedog.com/ 

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