We all have a our favorite department stores. But only a handful get to be considered as luxury stores. These are your Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Nordstroms and Barneys. You may put Macy’s on that list but not JCPenney or Target. They all have amazing merchandise and displays, but they also have the online store available.

One would think that stores with such high class and high price point merchandise like Saks, Blommies, Nordstroms and Barneys cater to their online customers. And that they do. But in this time of austerity with the economy well in our minds, do they have a sale section on their websites?

Of course, the aforementioned stores have sale but a modest sale section at their brick-and-mortar locations. But what about their websites? The websites don’t have to deal that much with inventory issues as they have plenty in their warehouses or drop shipper. Knowing that do the big name stores have a great sale section or outlet section on their websites?

Let’s have a comparison of sale sections.

Saks: The moment you get on the website, you can sign up for a 10% discount on your first order. Only if you give up your email address to get bombarded with marketing emails. As for the sale section --  a great thing about this site is that they have everything accounted for. They have a running number of how many items are our sale. For men’s apparel, 816 items are currently on sale. For women, 4513. Advantage: women -- this is a great site for shopping for sale apparel, handbags and jewelry. Beauty and fragrance runs a little short.

Bloomingdales: Another great sale section. The home section is the real winner here as they have linens, towels, home, kitchen and fine china for sale. And Bloomingdales does carry their own house brand name apparel as well as the top name designers. A great plus is that they carry sale items for plus size and petite female shoppers. Another example of Bloomingdales catering to all shoppers of all sizes.

Nordstroms: A little of a double edged sword here. Their sale section on the main site is not quite up to par with that of Saks and Bloomies but it’s meant to be that way. Nordstroms is much different than those other two stores as they have their very own outlet store, Nordstrom Rack. And that store carries more items and has a friendlier interface than the normal store. It’s if they want you to go there. Another great feature is that they have a rewards club. Ironic for a luxury department store, but they offer discounts for registered shoppers. Yes, it does work online so you will enjoy discounts on top of discounts.

All of these stores have a top notch outlet/sale website or section that is worth shopping at. So forget about fighting for an item this coming Christmas season, just pick it out online. If it doesn’t fit or work for you, you can always exchange it or return it.

Image credit: Fan of Retail on Flickr