Retailers Turn to Tax Day Promotions to Jump-Start Sales

According to a Consumer Reports index published Monday, more incentives may be necessary to offset “consumers’ lethargic outlook.” The Index’s past 30-day retail spending gauge for March fell for the third straight month, the report said. The index’s sentiment score was stagnant from February to March at 50.1, following a trend that has been “frozen in a narrow band between 51.2 and 48.9 since November,” it said. The sale of personal and major electronics “remained stable” from February, a Consumer Reports spokesman told us. According to the index’s planned buying activity, April will see an uptick in planned spending for major appliances, small appliances and seasonal yard and garden equipment, but consumer electronics spending will dip from 15 percent of consumer retail spending to 13.6 percent.

Among the spending incentives we saw in a scan of e-commerce sites Monday, Newegg listed the Klipsch Image S3 earbuds, in green, for $29.99, down from $49.99, and for $14.99 with a coupon. Klipsch sells a gray version on its site for $49.99. Shopping site Dealnews called the $14.99 tag the “best price we've seen for these headphones” by $10. The deal ends Tuesday, it said.

Newegg didn’t mention that the Definitive Technology Mythos Two speaker it profiled on its site is out of production, but it did mention the speaker had bottomed out pricewise, at its lowest historical price of $179.99, some “$270 off.” The Definitive website, meanwhile, cited the Mythos Two ($549) as a “vintage model” that’s no longer available for sale. “It may still be available in some stores as a closeout or used product,” Definitive said, although Newegg didn’t use either qualifier in its ad. Definitive gave a link to its customer service department for any questions shoppers might have.

IGrill ran a four-hour flash sale Monday afternoon through an email blast titled “Tax Day Is Rough.” The sale trimmed 15 percent off the list price of an iGrill Bluetooth cooking thermometer and an iShower radio.

At Amazon, three CE products made Deal of the Day Monday, led by an LG 42-inch 3D TV, cut by $50 to $449. A 32 GB PNY microSDHC card was slashed by 71 percent to $22.99, and an Adonit keyboard/stand for the iPad 2 and 3 was cut $65 to $34.99. All included free shipping.

Walmart listed special buys in its CE section Monday, including an LG 42-inch LED-lit 3D TV for $398 with four pairs of passive glasses included. The retailer sold a Canon all-in-one printer for $34, but just $5 off the already squeezed $39 retail price. Laptops at Walmart started at $312 under a “tax time bundle” that included laptop, case, flash drive and printer. The basic laptop in the deal was a refurbished HP model but shoppers could add $35 and get a new 15-inch Toshiba model or $58 for a Gateway 15-inch model, according to the website. The base printer model was an HP 1000, but for $30 more, shoppers could get a Canon wireless multifunction printer, or for $60 more, an HP wireless printer with scanner/copier functionality.

Otterbox ran a tiered promotion from its direct website Monday: 5 percent off $50, $10 off minimum orders of $75 and 15 percent off $100 or more, the first such promotion direct from the company that Dealnews had seen, it said.

Soundbars may be surging in sales, but it’s a competitive category, we found. Woot showed Monday a Polk SurroundBar 4000 ($180 plus $5 shipping), beating all other prices Dealnews could rustle up by $195, it said. A refurbished 40-inch Vizio soundbar at Newegg sold for $50 Monday with free shipping, and a Coby 2.1-channel soundbar system rang in at Best Buy for $78 with free shipping, according to websites. Polk’s SurroundBar 6000 system was on sale at Crutchfield for $100 at $399, we found.