PRESS - Irma Zandl in USA Today

Irma Zandl is featured in an article by Olivia Barker in today's USA Today about consumers' recent trend toward haggling in unexpected retail locations. Irma points out that consumers are empowered with new tools and training.

Retailers are up against consumers who, thanks to years of comparing prices online on PriceGrabber and hunting bargains on Priceline and Craigslist, have sharpened their haggling skills. "Those are the tools that weren't around 10 years ago," says Irma Zandl, president of the Zandl Group, which tracks market trends. "People are more tuned to getting the best price; eBay helped condition people. That is part of the mentality, sort of that auction mentality.

Shoppers will return to splurging, Zandl predicts. That said, the goods game has changed for good, she says: "The online and thrift resources that they've added to their shopping arsenal will fundamentally change their approach to retail and consumerism."

Read the whole article here.
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