1.   Even Nordstrom, which rarely has pre-Christmas sales, is discounting merchandise, Grillo says.

2.   Even with many stores already discounting holiday merchandise, there was plenty of parking and few lines at area malls Friday morning.

3.   Kunz attributed much of the drop in same-store sales to a strategy of discounting less merchandise.

4.   Limited said sales fell at its Lane Bryant and Lerner New York chain and the stores needed to discount its merchandise to clear the shelves.

5.   Many e-commerce sites already discount merchandise and therefore do not follow traditional sales schedules.

6.   Retailers sharply discounted merchandise in the quarter to encourage sales, which were also hurt by a late Easter and higher federal income tax bills.

7.   The Mills Corporation has been successful with its formula of discounting merchandise on every level, even to the suits Mayor Willie Brown buys.

8.   Online pet companies found themselves heavily discounting merchandise in order to attract customers, and the category was hit by consolidations, layoffs and missed profit targets.

9.   Companies like Intel first must unload burgeoning inventories, incurring more losses as they are forced to discount their merchandise.

10.   Companies have heavily discounted merchandise and offered free financing and other incentives to lure consumers, whose spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy.