&MONEY MORE 7BYORK DAILY RECORD • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2010

Smart phones

A newspin onholidayshoppingTechnology and social mediago mainstream, to make theexperience more interactive.By ELAINE WALKERand BRIDGET CAREYMcClatchy Newspapers

At Toys R Us, you can forget the ol’-fash-ioned, paper and pencil holiday wish list — gohigh-tech with the toy retailer’s app designedfor the iPad.

Spot a good deal on Black Friday, and usethe Black Flyday app on an Android phone tosend it out immediately to all your Facebookfriends.

This year’s holiday season is when technol-ogy and social media join the mainstream,aiming to make the shopping experiencemore interactive and, hopefully, more produc-tive. For bargain hunters, it’s a way to becomea more savvy shopper.

Any variety of downloadable apps canhelp you find the best bargains. Use FastMallto pull up maps of your local malls. Stay ontop of the best deals by signing up for textmessage alerts from retailers like Kmart, Vic-toria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Retailers have definitely taken notice andthere’s hardly a major national chain thatshoppers won’t find on Facebook or Twitter.JCPenney has nearly 1.3 million Facebookfans, and Toys R Us is pushing the 1 millionmark. Those fans get everything from specialdiscounts to sneak peeks on merchandise.

At Macy’s, social media and mobile mar-keting have been growing by double digits,making it just as important — or maybe moreso — than traditional marketing.

Four out of 10 retailers will use Facebookto promote deals this holiday season, accord-ing to the National Retail Federation.

More than one-fourth of Americans whohave a smart phone will use their mobiledevice to shop for gifts, compare prices andresearch products, according to an NRFsurvey by BIGresearch. That number reaches45 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds and43.5 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds.

It’s all about creating a more interactiveexperience. That’s also the focus behind appslike CheckPoints and Shopkick.

Shopkick has partnerships nationally withTarget, Best Buy, Macy’s, Sports Authority,Wet Seal, American Eagle and Simon Prop-erty Group’s malls. Customers score kickbucksby simply walking into a mall or store andchecking in on their iPhone or Androidphone. They also get more kickbucks by scan-ning barcodes on select items.

“It makes it fun for the shopper,” said Lyn-ette Lauria, Florida regional vice president ofmarketing with Simon Property Group.

Rack up a total of 875 kickbucks and shop-pers can earn a $25 restaurant gift certificate.Reach higher totals and you can earn freemovie tickets or a Coach gift card.

DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS — PAUL KUEHNEL

Joe Bartolo, right, talks with customer Bryan Taylor of Hanover on Tuesday at JJ Cards N Toys at the York Galleria in SpringettsburyTownship. The store planned to open at 4:30 a.m. today.

It’s not called the

BIGGEST SHOPPING DAYOF THE YEAR for nothing

DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS — PAUL KUEHNEL

JJ Cards N Toys will offer a helmet signed bythe Pittsburgh Steelers’ Troy Polamalu, at left,on special between 4:30 and 9 a.m. today.

Retailers brace for holiday seasonBy KEVIN HORANDaily Record/Sunday News

Joe Bartolo, owner of JJ Cards N Toys,a sports memorabilia store in the YorkGalleria in Springettsbury Township,planned to get a jump on his competitionthis Black Friday, opening his doors at4:30 a.m.

The mall doesn’t officially open until 6a.m., he said, but shoppers tend to maketheir way in beforehand, thanks to someof its anchor stores opening earlier.

“Everybody’s trying to get that advan-tage,” Bartolo said.

This will probably be a big weekendfor Bartolo and his fellow retailers, ac-cording to the National Retail Federation.Up to 138 million people plan to hit thestores Friday, Saturday and Sunday, thefederation said, up from 134 million whoplanned to shop last year.

Stores around the area are bracingthemselves.

One of Bartolo’s competitors in theGalleria, Bleacher Bums, planned to rear-range itself Wednesday, putting racks con-taining its special deals up front forcustomers to see right away, said SteveDwyer, the store’s owner.

People have been hesitant to spendmoney the past two years, Dwyer said, atrend he expects to see reversed this year.

In the West Manchester Mall, ArtesianPools & Spas’ Black Friday traffic willprobably benefit from the addition of anew neighbor, Kohl’s, which opened in

September, said Jeff Tarashik,Artesian’s manager.

Kids shopping in Kohl’s withtheir parents tend to see Arte-sian’s big display of Christmastrees and decorations and go run-ning into the store, bringing theirparents with them, Tarashik said.The store started carrying Christ-mas items last year, Tarashik said,and expanded its offerings thisyear.

Big-box retailers in the area are get-ting ready, as well.

Ultimate Electronics in SpringettsburyTownship plans to have its managersarrive at 2 a.m. and its staff arrive at 3 a.m.for its 4 a.m. opening, said Jason Donham,the store’s specialty goods manager. Staffmembers will start handing out vouchersto customers waiting outside for items inlimited quantities at 2:30, Donham said.

This is Ultimate Electronics’ firstBlack Friday locally since opening itsstore here earlier this year. The impor-tance of the day is not lost on the store’sstaff, Donham said.

“This will be an opportunity to talk tomore people than we ever have before atone time,” he said. “...Every guest we haveis an opportunity.”

At Best Buy in Springettsbury Town-ship, keeping order is crucial, managerCindy Kemmerly said. The store plans to

have all 130 of its employees working atsome point in the day, Kemmerly said,most of them working 12-hour shifts. BestBuy plans to open at 5 a.m.

People waiting outside before the storeopens will get tickets for the items theywant, Kemmerly said, and then be able topick the items up at designated placeswithin the store.

“It’s very well thought out,” Kemmerlysaid.

Bartolo, the owner of JJ Cards N Toys,also hopes his preparations leading up toBlack Friday will work out well.

His store has been building up itsinventory and hiring and training new em-ployees recently, he said. On Friday morn-ing, he’ll see how well it pays off.

“This is a busy time for us,” he said.

khoran@ydr.com; 771-2029

Free shopping appsBlack Flyday — Post a good Black Friday

deal or see a map of where others have buzzedabout sales (Android)

CheckPoints — Earn points toward giftcards and airline miles by scanning barcodes ofproducts and checking into stores (iPhone)

Coupon Sherpa — Scan through list ofmajor retailers to see what mobile coupons theyoffer (iPhone)

FastMall — Search a directory map ofstores in a mall, and shake phone to find nearestrestroom (iPhone)

Giftmeister — Helps give tech gift sugges-tions for different personalities and find who isselling it for cheapest (iPhone, Android)

Point Inside — Pull up a map of a mall orairport and search for customer service and man-agement offices (iPhone, Android)

PriceGrabber — Scan barcodes and com-pare online prices, or share your wish list withfriends (iPhone, Android)

Shopkick — Earn rewards like gift certifi-cates for checking into stores and scanning bar-codes

TheFind — Scan barcodes to see who isselling it for cheaper in another store or online(iPhone, Android)

Yowza!! — Find stores that have mobile cou-pons (iPhone)

Where — Find stores that have mobile cou-pons and check into locations (iPhone, Android,BlackBerry, HP Palm)

Black Friday tipsThe National Retail Federation provides the following tips for

shoppers on Black Friday:

c When gift shopping, remember you are buying for someoneelse’s wants and needs, not your own. The question is not whetheryou like a certain item; rather, it’s whether your recipient will like it.

c Buy gift cards to save yourself the guesswork, “especially forbabysitters, newspaper carriers, doormen (and) teachers.”

c Wear comfortable shoes. “You’ll be walking on a lot ofmarble, concrete and tile.”

Bartolo, left, helps Taylor match a frame to a Christmaspresent at JJ Cards N Toys. The store recently has been

building up its inventory and hiring and training newemployees in preparation for Black Friday and the rest of

the holiday shopping season. DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS — PAUL KUEHNEL

Toy extravaganza

Buy, sell, trade at expoThe 29th annual Greater York Toy Extrava-

ganza will run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Me-morial Hall at the York Expo Center.

The show will include more than800 tables of antique toys, trains, dolls, actionfigures, Hot Wheels and super heroes, amongother items.

Visitors can buy, sell and trade toys. Ad-mission is $5 and children under 12 get infree.

Feed-A-Friend

Marathon helps Red CrossRadio station WHVR-AM at Hanover will

host the 25th annual Hanover Foods Feed-A-Friend Marathon, a 50-hour live broadcast tocollect food for the hungry.

The marathon will be noon Dec. 8 to 2 p.m.Dec. 10 and is supported in part by CooperMotors Lincoln-Mercury, Members First Fed-eral Credit Union, McDonald’s and The Eve-ning Sun in Hanover.

The goal is to collect 128,000 cans. In con-junction with its “Hope for the Holidays” pro-gram, the pledges are used by the GreaterHanover Red Cross to provide meals.

For more information about the Feed-A-Friend Marathon and how you can help, callWHVR at 637-3831 or visit the Hanover RedCross hanoverredcross.org.

Low-income heating funds

Senator supports programU.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. joined a group of bi-partisan senators in sending a letter callingfor funding for the Low-Income Home EnergyAssistance Program to be maintained.

The letter to the Senate AppropriationsCommittee calls for funding to be maintainedat $5.1 billion rather than being cut to $3.3 bil-lion.

The program, which opened Nov. 1, pro-vides money to help low-income residents, theelderly and people with disabilities pay theirheating bills.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Pro-gram applications are available through theYork County Assistance Office at 800-991-0929.

Overdraft programs

FDIC gives banks final rulesAmong the new guidelines, the FDIC ex-

pects the state-chartered banks to:c Review marketing and disclosure for the

programs “to minimize potential customerconfusion and promote responsible use.”

c Train staff to explain the program.c Monitor the programs for excessive use

and offer alternatives to customers who over-draw their account more than six times in any12-month period.

c Set “appropriate daily limits” on thenumber of overdraft fees.

c Consider eliminating overdraft fees fortransactions that overdraw a small amount.

c Consider using text messages, e-mail orother options to alert customers when theiraccount balance gets low.