Four of the 10 busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, and retailers should prepare accordingly, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics. Additionally, with only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas - down from five last year - retailers prep to make money during a narrower window of time.

Wegman's markets is promoting Halloween-inspired Nosferatu, a heavily-hopped "bright blood-red ale," from Great Lakes Brewing Co."Nosferatu is 'the beer with the bite' as we sometimes say (much like our label's namesake vampire)," said Great Lakes Brewing Co. brewmasters Luke Purcell and Mark Hunger in a blog. The beer is available in Wegmans stores that sell beer, except for those in Massachusetts.

Chrysler rode pickup trucks to a big gain in third quarter sales, with trucks driving the 22% increase in net income. But only one in seven of its vehicles were sold outside of the United States, where market growth is. While its crosstown rivals Ford and GM saw declines, Chrysler saw revenues jump 13.5%, to $17.6 billion, on the sale of 603,000 vehicles, an increase of 8% from a year ago.

Best Buy and the other big-box retailers have been struggling with an infestation of showroomers. Best Buy is responding with a slate of commercials aimed at holiday shoppers, the earliest the company has ever started airing holiday ads. "It seemed to be the right, competitive thing to do," says Scott Moore, senior VP-marketing. Moore noted that the media expected showrooming to be the death knell for the chain.

McDonald's tosses a rounding error at its own Ronald McDonald House Charities and gets a lot more back in PR, and should immediately stop linking longtime spokes-character Ronald McDonald with it, says a consumer advocacy group in a scathing report. While McDonald's reaps 100% of the "branded benefit" from the charity, it contributes only about 20% of the money, the report charges.

Restaurants are dead (so to speak) on Halloween. How are they to lure in the ghouls? Freebies. Chains like Olive Garden, IHOP and Krispy Kreme will offer free eats. Besides Olive Garden, two other Darden chains -- Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse -- will offer free kids meals for much of Halloween week. All require the purchase of an adult entree for each free kids meal.

Kia will unveil a $70,000 luxury car at the Los Angeles auto show. The new Kia K900 will hit showrooms next year. But a significant number of details have already begun leaking out about the K900, which is already on sale in the home Korean market under the nameplate Kia K9. The K900 will leapfrog the current Kia flagship, the recently redesigned Cadenza.

UPS is cashing in on Internet shopping and retailers trying to mimic Amazon.com. The company estimates it will handle 4% more U.S. packages over the holidays, partly because of a 15% increase in online retail orders. Chief Sales, Marketing and Otrategy officer Alan Gershenhorn said the company will ship 34 million packages on its peak day.

Walgreens is continuing its partnership with the Detroit Lions as the football team's official pharmacy. Walgreens stays as sponsor of the Lions' Living for the City community health program, and will have camera-visible signage during games and events at Ford Field, on-site displays at select events and a mix of marketing rights and in-stadium assets and promotion at the club level.

A promotion at Busch Stadium that had been scheduled for the third inning of Game 5 of the World Series for Chevrolet Silverado, a sponsor of Major League Baseball's postseason, was canceled following concerns it was insensitive. The promo was to have spelled out the message "Silverado Strong" in the stands.