Be sure to check out these seven Christmas gift guides below for inspiration.

• The Uncle Mark 2010 Gift Guide & Almanac: Great advice for the best tech gifts.

• 2009 Holiday Gift Guide from Cool Mom Picks: More than 100 gift ideas, many with discount codes for 10 to 20 percent off.
• The New York Times 2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Staff of The Gray Lady pick their favorite books, dining and home, DVDs, video games, electronics, music, theater, style and travel.
• The JustGive Guide: Give a donation in his or her name, choosing from 1.5 million different charities.
• Parents’ Choice 2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Top kids gifts, for infants to twelve-year-olds.
• Time’s 2009 Holiday Gifts: 30 gift ideas including “books, music, DVDs, games and gifts that give back.”
• BlogHer’s 2009 Holiday Gift Guide For Guys: Many clever guy gifts here, but I’m not so sure on the Man Can from Orvis.

I have to admit, I have not visited Buckle, an upscale clothing store known for its designer denim for young men and women. But my MBA marketing professor has, and he shared this story in class.

My professor and his wife were searching the mall for a gift for their seventeen-year-old daughter. (“And you know how hard that is,” he said. “Seventeen-year-olds are impossible to shop for.”) They stroll past Buckle, and he stops. Turning back, he describes to his wife how Buckle is thriving in an abysmal retail economy. Maybe there’s a gift in there for their daughter. “Let’s check this out,” he said.

So begins one of the best retail experiences my professor has encountered. The sales teammate (Buckle’s term) listened and asked questions about their daughter. From the nearly 1,000 denim options for women, she picked a pair that she assured them that their daughter would love. The designer jeans were more expensive than they were used to paying, but they agreed. The sales teammate offered to gift wrap the jeans and did so. Twenty minutes later, my professor and his wife left Buckle with the “perfect gift.”

Fast forward to the daughter receiving the gift, with the parents looking on. Removing the gift wrap, she saw the tell-tale cardboard box that signals “clothing.” Her initial expression read, “Oh no, my parents bought me clothes!” Pushing on, she opened the box and held up the jeans. She is stunned.

Finally, she said, “These are cool.”

“We got them at Buckle,” my professor added.

“Wow. These are very cool.”

The Buckle sales teammate was absolutely right: the daughter cherishes her new jeans, the perfect gift. Maybe that’s how a retailer survives this downturn.

#10. Southwest Airlines
“Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines attributes its customer-service success to personality… and free peanuts.” Consider a Southwest gift card.

#9. Costco
“The company’s prices have also won Costco fans. Costco stocks its stores with bulk items that consumers can buy at discounts. It keeps its margins low in order to keep prices down and makes up the difference in sales volume.” Shop at Costco.com.

#8. Apple
“If they can’t fix it, and it’s new enough, they’ll often hand you a replacement device free, on the spot.” Visit the Apple Store.

#7. Whole Foods Market
“[Whole Foods] has created a loyal following by committing to sell high-quality food that’s free of many additives and antibiotics that concern health-conscious customers.” Order a Whole Foods gift card.

#6. Publix Super Market
“[Spokeswoman Maria] Brous also attributes Publix’s success to discount programs intended to help struggling families afford the basics.” Purchase a Publix gift card.

#5. Nordstrom Department Store
“The company gives many of its salespeople the latitude to deal with customer complaints without running them up the management chain.” Shop at Nordstrom.com.

#4. Amazon.com
“Amazon considers its free shipping a form of advertising. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Amazon said it had saved customers more than $800 million in shipping costs in 2008.” Shop at Amazon.com.

#3. NetFlix
“Netflix has 58 distribution centers across the country, enabling 97% of members to receive new DVDs the day after Netflix gets their returns, says Steve Swasey, the company’s director of corporate communications. The company ships more than 2.2 million DVDs each day to a network of 10.3 million subscribers, he says.” Give a NetFlix gift subscription.

#2. Trader Joe’s
“Trader Joe’s owes its customer ratings to its cheese, chocolate cake… and the rest of its product selection, says satisfied shopper Lisa Hsu.” See TraderJoes.com for the closest grocery store location. TJ’s does not sell its products (not even their gift cards) online.

#1. USAA
“USAA certainly isn’t your average insurance company or financial institution. Its 7 million members are all in the military, former servicemen or family members of military personnel. Members are stakeholders. They pay premiums and are paid back a portion of the insurer’s profits each year.” If you qualify for USAA services, visit USAA.com to learn more about buying a U.S. savings bond as a kid’s gift. Albeit practical, savings bonds help children understand the power of growing interest.

MSN Money based its top ten on a survey of 3,015 respondents, rating the customer service of 145 companies in 15 industries. Zogby International conducted the survey and also asked which aspect of service was most important. The results (rounded up) are as follows:

• Knowledgeable staff – 44%
• Friendly staff – 18%
• Readily available staff – 15%
• Flexible policies for return/exchange of merchandise – 9%
• Service after the sale – 9%
• None — product is all that matters – 1%
• Not sure – 1%
• Other – %1

Instead, I turned to the WeddingChannel.com‘s unified registry search, spanning 22 different gift registries:

• Amazon.com
• Barneys New York
• Bed Bath & Beyond
• Bloomingdale’s
• Borsheims
• Bottlenotes
• Charity Registry
• Cloud 9
• Crate & Barrel
• Fortunoff
• Gump’s
• JCPenney
• Macy’s
• Neiman Marcus
• Pottery Barn
• REI
• Restoration Hardware
• Sandals Resorts
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts
• Tiffany & Co.
• Traveler’s Joy
• Williams-Sonoma

Just one search, based on her first and last name, revealed the couple’s wedding registry. Keep in mind you can give thoughtful gifts off the registry; it’s just there for the convenience of the guests. And the gift of money (or gift cards to the couple’s registered stores) is often well-received.

If the WeddingChannel.com’s search yields no results, you can individually check some of the online gift registries that the WeddingChannel.com does not cover.

• Bon-Ton stores, including Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s, Parisian and Younkers
• Dillard’s Wedding Registry
• JCPenney Wedding and Gift Registry
  
• JustGive.org’s Wedding Center
• Kohl’s Wedding Wishes Gift Registry
• Linens ‘n Things Gift Registry
• Sears Book Gift Registry
• Target Club Wedd
• Walmart Gift Registry

With the sluggish economy, both Target and Walmart are seeing more couples using their registries, according to a recent survey by TheKnot.com. For example, Target’s Club Wedd made up 18 percent of the respondents’ primary wedding registries. The survey also found that 69 percent of guests chose gifts from the couple’s wedding registry.

• So far, the average person has finished 64.7 percent of their holiday shopping.

• 30.1 percent of shoppers are completely done with holiday shopping.
• However, 20.5 percent of people have no holiday shopping started. Leading the list of procrastinators are 18- to 34-year-olds and male shoppers.

If you want to skip the crowds this weekend, consider my 2007 list of 25 last-minute gifts you can purchase online.

• Send with USPS First-Class Mail by Saturday, December 20 (details).
• For UPS Ground, aim for Friday, December 19. You can ship by Tuesday, December 23 (details), but you will see pricey rates for UPS next-day air delivery. Try the UPS Time and Cost Calculator for estimates based on your zip code.
• For FedEx Saver (three-day air delivery), drop off packages by Friday, December 19. You have until Tuesday, December 23, for FedEx overnight services (details). Get specific estimates with the FedEx Rate and Transit Time Finder.

For many online retailers, plan to place your orders before Thursday, December 18, 2008. Shoe shopping site Zappos.com remains my champion of free holiday shipping. Zappos.com offers free delivery in time for Christmas if you order before 3 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, December 23, 2008. Check out the delivery deadlines for 20 popular e-tailers.

1. eBay – 12.9 million visitors
2. Amazon.com – 9.2 million visitors
3. Wal-Mart – 6.7 million visitors
4. Target – 4.8 million visitors
5. Apple – 3.6 million visitors

Again, my wife and I turned to online shopping today, taking advantage of Amazon Prime’s all-you-can-eat shipping.

• Before something is widely available for sale, you pre-order a book, CD, DVD, video game or software on Amazon.com.

• If the price drops before your pre-order item ships, Amazon.com charges you the lower price.
• Your order ships and the price drops just before or on the release date, Amazon.com refunds you the difference automatically.

Looking for more detail on this policy, I was surprised that Amazon.com has dropped a different guarantee: the post-order price policy. As of September 1, 2008, Amazon.com will no longer refund you the difference if Amazon.com’s price drops within 30 days after shipping. Of course, Amazon.com has removed the old post-order price policy, but the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine saved a copy from October 24, 2007, reproduced below:

Post-Order Price Guarantee

Amazon.com’s prices for released items will change from time to time based on a variety of factors. If Amazon.com’s price for an already-released item decreases within 30 days after we ship the item to you, we’ll be glad to refund the difference in price if you contact us. Please… be sure to have your order number handy so we can assist you.

It’s unfortunate that Amazon.com eliminated this 30-day-post-order price guarantee. For me, this decision means I may be less likely to buy big-ticket gifts, like home electronics, from Amazon.com. I see that Best Buy and Circuit City still offer a post-order price guarantee.