Sears.com was inaccessible to U.S. shoppers for two hours on Friday in what was the most notable Web hiccup of the holiday gift-buying season's official start.

Other sites, including Amazon.com Inc., experienced minor slowdowns, according to Shawn White, director of external operations at Keynote Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based research group.

Starting a week and a half ago, Keynote began tracking the performance of about 30 big online retailers, logging the time it took to find a product and start checking out.

Keynote's list includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Macy's Inc., Circuit City and others; the system takes measurements every 15 minutes from computers in 10 major U.S. cities.

Sears Holdings Corp.'s site started to crawl at around 9:30 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, when loading a page on the site topped one minute. From about 10:30 to 12:30, Sears posted a message asking shoppers to try again in a few minutes.

White said Sears was among the retailers that stumbled last year on Black Friday.

But while Sears' problems returned this year, others including Neiman Marcus and Buy.com Inc. seem to have resolved past issues.

Amazon and Target Inc., which uses Amazon's e-commerce technology, were slower Friday than in recent days, but not unbearably so, White said. At the slowest point, a transaction that took 25 seconds last week required about 40 seconds Friday morning.

Kohl's Corp. and Saks Inc. also had performance problems, according to Keynote data.

White said he expects some sites will slow down or shut down on Monday, too, as workers, back in the office after the holiday weekend, start clicking.

Samsung Omnia, Motorola Hint on tap

November 25 2008 - 1:56 pm ET | Phil Carson | RCR Wireless News

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The new Samsung Omnia touchscreen smartphone lands at Verizon Wireless for $250, after a $70 mail-in rebate, with a two-year service contract.

Carriers are putting the finishing touches on their portfolios this week as the traditionally hottest shopping day of the year draws close. That’s Black Friday, this Friday.

The new Samsung Omnia touchscreen smartphone will land at Verizon Wireless on Wednesday at $250, after a $70 mail-in rebate, with a two-year service contract.

The Omnia runs Windows Mobile 6.1, offers a virtual QWERTY keypad and customizable user interface. The device includes the Opera 9.5 mobile browser, a 5-megapixel camera, messaging options, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and access to Verizon’s data services.

Verizon Wireless also has added the $350 HTC Touch Pro device to its arsenal (it launched earlier this month at Sprint Nextel Corp. for $300) at a price point at the very high-end of most carrier-based portfolios.

Not to be outdone, AT&T Mobility has discounted two messaging devices to spark consumer interest. The Samsung Propel and Pantech Matrix, typically $80 apiece, can both be had in a two-for-one deal.

Motorola Inc. announced the launch of its Hint device, a “social messaging slider” with a QWERTY keyboard, which will go through Alltel Communications L.L.C. for $100 after a mail-in rebate, starting Nov. 28.

Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless’ BlackBerry Storm is so popular at $200 — or supplies so limited — that the carrier’s Web site announced “limited availability” for the device, promising customers that new online orders will ship by Dec. 8. Stores on the East Coast are also sold out of the device, according to news reports.

Market Info

Christmas shopping typically begins on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and nearly every year certain "must-have" toys emerge that spur parents to camp outside stores and then, at the crack of dawn, to stampede inside for a chance to snag the coveted plaything for the Christmas tree. Think Cabbage Patch Kids, Tickle Me Elmo, and Nintendo's Wii. This year, as many consumers watch their homes and 401(k) accounts shrink dramatically in value, the must-have toy may go the way of the dodo, say analysts such as Howard Davidowitz, chairman of retail consultancy Davidowitz & Associates. "The customer is so pressed for money, so scared, and so in debt," he says. "They are so focused on price that the huge must-have toys are gone."

Parents will still buy toys for their children, of course, but they may not muster the energy and funds spent in years past. "The toy industry is not recession-proof (BusinessWeek.com, 11/19/08), but historically it is more recession-resistant," says Julie Livingston, a spokeswoman for the Toy Industry Assn. "This year parents might buy fewer of the special high-end toys, but they won't give up toys for their children." Market research firm TNS Retail Forward surveyed 4,000 shoppers in October around the U.S. and found that a third planned to buy toys this year, down from 38% in 2007. Those that plan to buy toys will spend 12% less than they did last year.

When retailers can't count on pent-up excitement and demand for the "hot" item, they turn to one-upping each other with promotions, says Mandy Putnam, a vice-president with TNS Retail Forward. "Retailers have anticipated that toys might not be as popular this year so they're going to have to promote the heck (BusinessWeek.com, 11/11/08) out of what they have to get shoppers through the door."

Classic Toys Still Conquer

Trudy Lonegan, a mother of two boys in Chapel Hill, N.C., is one of the many parents scaling back on costlier items. In previous years, Santa brought her sons popular gifts like a Nintendo Wii or a Razor USA scooter. This year she's steering clear of high-end gifts. "We're planning a frugal Christmas," says Lonegan, 39, who works in sales for a human resources consulting company where her pay is variable because it is commission-based. To economize on her holiday gifts, she will go to Costco (COST) to get iPod Nanos for her sons or shop online where she can compare prices. Her husband, a woodworker, will also make gifts for their sons like hat racks and shelves for their sports trophies.

Certain classic toys such as Hot Wheels, Barbie, and Play-Doh will still be popular this year, but customers are likely to trade down within brands, predicts Eric Johnson, a management professor at Dartmouth and a toy industry analyst. Parents will go for the $10 Barbie instead of the Barbie Dream House or Jeep, he says. "We don't have anything like the Furbies that generated fistfights when the Wal-Mart opened on Black Friday a few years ago. There is nothing in that category."