2011: Another Cut-Price Christmas?

Halloween hasn't arrived yet and already retailers are positioning themselves with discounts and promotions to capture share of wallet well in advance of the holiday buying season. Penny-pinching purchasers do care about price, but how much influence will the following policies have on actual buying?

•  Toys 'R' Us is launching a new version of its customer loyalty program, featuring discounts and money-back after the season. The program has 24 million members and will doubtless attract millions more who will consolidate their purchases to achieve savings.
• Walmart has a price-match guarantee to reassure shoppers that they won't find a lower price anywhere from Nov. 1 to Dec. 25. If they do, Walmart will give them a gift card for the difference in price--bringing shoppers back into the store to spend again.
• Sears will beat a competing price by 10%, subject to the fine print of course.
• Bed, Bath & Beyond will match Amazon.com's prices, which is unusual because very few in-store retailers include online merchants in price match programs.

One thing is clear: Customers will need to be even better shoppers than usual to get the best deal.