On Black Friday, retailers take customization to the next level

That puts pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers, which count on the holiday shopping season for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue, to find ways to get shoppers into their physical stores. That's becoming an increasingly difficult feat: The National Retail Federation, an industry trade group, estimates that overall sales in November and December will rise 4.1 percent this year to $586.1 billion, or about flat with last year's growth. Meanwhile, online sales are expected to rise 15 percent to $68.4 billion, according to Forrester Research.

"Retailers have to do a little more to grow sales this year," said Frank Badillo, a senior economist at consultancy Kantar Retail.

This isn't the first time stores have had to up the ante. Big sales and door busters like deeply discounted TVs used to be the hallmark of the winter holiday shopping rush. But stores noticed over the last several years that Americans were cutting back on spending during the economic downturn, so they ramped up their discounting even more.

Shoppers became addicted to the ever bigger sales. And they began fleeing to online retailers, which can offer much cheaper prices than brick-and-mortar stores because they don't have the overhead costs of operating physical locations. Shoppers also began to appreciate something else about online retailers: They offer them the convenience of being able to shop within the comfort of their homes or office cubicles.

To better compete, brick-and-mortar stores figured that they'd have to replicate their online rivals' formula. Shopping in stores needs to be cheap and easy, they figured. So stores began trying new ways to make shopping more convenient last year, such as free shipping and expanded hours. But this holiday season, they've expanded the scope and scale of those incentives to include:

— EXPANDED HOURS FOR SHOPPERS WHO CAN'T WAIT TO HIT THE MALL: Stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving Day known as "Black Friday." It's typically the biggest shopping day of the year. But the Black Friday openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years, with retailers such as Macy's Inc. opening stores at midnight. This season, some stores have expanded their hours even more: department-store chain Sears, toy-store chain Toys R Us, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and others are opening on Thanksgiving to grab those who want to shop after their turkey dinner.

"We saw a shift in how customers are shopping last year," says Ron Boire, Sears chief merchandising officer. "Members told us some of them want to stay up late. Others like the idea of getting out early."

— MORE SHIPPING AND RETURN OPTIONS FOR SHOPPERS WHO COVET CONVENIENCE: About 44 percent of retailers are offering free shipping this year, a jump from 12.5 percent last year, said Vicki Cantrell, executive director of Shop.org, the National Retail Federation's digital retail division. And package delivery company UPS, which commissioned a customer service study with research firm comScore, said retailers also are working to make returns easier, by including return labels in packages or providing a link online that customers can use to print labels out. Additionally, some stores, including consumer-electronics retailer Best Buy Co., Toys R Us and Wal-Mart, are offering customers the option of ordering online and then picking up their merchandise in stores.

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