Deal-Hungry Shoppers Rewards Brands for Holiday Offers

Retailers apparently aren’t taking any chances on getting holiday shoppers into stores. Sears got the biggest lift in consumer sentiment in October for being early in offering a layaway plan and loyalty program in early October, per YouGov’s BrandIndex. Southwest came in second with a big winter sale. Facebook benefitted as the national and local political candidates pushed their social media apps in the home stretch of the election. It also was a big month for video game consoles. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 cracked the top 10 brand improvers with the arrival of holiday-time games and devices. The brand research service asks consumers online about their perception of 1,100 brands and assigns a Buzz score ranging from 100 to –100.