Some stores have even taken steps to help. Although it's unlikely any big-box retail store would openly invite people to come in and haggle (a practice normally reserved, at least in this country, for car and home purchases), many offer enticements for the comparison shopper.
Both Sears and Best Buy, for instance, offer best-price guarantees, promising to match any retail price and even top it by 10 percent. At a recent visit to the Sears at Marley Station mall, a sales clerk in electronics offered to check competitors' prices online.
Charles Ostrander, a manager at the White Marsh Best Buy, says he hasn't noticed an increasing number of customers looking to haggle. But when customers do come in looking for a bargain, or insisting they only have $1,000 to pay for that $1,200 home entertainment system, he and his sales staff are eager to investigate other options - maybe steer them toward a cheaper model, or find a floor model or returned item they can offer for less. And there's still that price guarantee to fall back on.
"We're going to find them something that suits their needs," he promises.
Shoppers determined to get the best price possible have one invaluable tool at their disposal: the Internet. Almost all retail stores maintain Web sites with prices listed, making comparison shopping much easier than when you had to drive from store to store or spend hours on the phone.
"The Internet has become really important as a tool for consumers," says Jim Trela, chair of the sociology department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who studies Internet behavior.
"By the time a consumer shows up at a store, they have the information, they know what they should pay for an item. ... It's the fairly innocent or naive consumer that fails to consult the Internet," Trela says.
Frank C. Fillmore Jr., founder of Towson-based database consultants The Fillmore Group, used pricegrabber.com to find a flat-panel TV for $200 less than any of the local stores could offer, with free shipping included.
Steven Kruskamp, a marketing manager for 1st Mariner Bank, has found a welcome tool in beatmyprice.com. The site asks for the make, model number and price of an item, as well as the Web page on which it was found, then searches to see if it can be found cheaper somewhere else.
