Stay Home on Black Friday
The Black Friday rag is arguably more popular than buying on a consumer holiday. By now, we all know that door counters aren’t the best deals they are announcing, and discounted TVs aren’t worth trampling on anyone (at least I hope we all know that).
But the “demise” of Black Friday , which has been written about for years, is also exaggerated. We continue to spend record amounts of money every year over the long weekend. Last year, Americans spent $ 5 billion on the Internet alone in just 24 hours.
So, are the sales really worth it? It depends. Small appliances and smart home gadgets will hit the market this year, experts say , and research points to legitimate travel deals on Travel Tuesday, the newest addition to consumption week.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and more is more than just offering shoppers great deals – it’s just a way to entice us to start our holiday shopping as early as possible. Retailers inflate their sales for weeks , but that doesn’t mean they’re really worth spending your money on. For example, a 40 percent discount at retail stores like The Loft, The Gap, and more, at this point is not so much theft once a year as it is events held every two months . Research indicates that most of the holiday season sales happen the week before Thanksgiving. And, as we said earlier , many sales are deceiving.
Independent price analysis of certain items by the nonprofit advocacy group Consumers’ Checkbook found that items in stores such as JCPenney, Kmart, Macy’s and Sears were on sale almost every week, which meant they were never listed on this ” original “price according to [Consumer Reports]. The selling price was more or less “real”.
This means if you already have a few things or experiences, or if you enjoy the ritual of shopping with your family after Thanksgiving, then be sure to do so (and if you really want the best deal, use a price tracking tool like CamelCamelCamel or Invisible hand ). It’s not so much prescriptive as reflective (and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t buy the bag from my favorite store). As Motley Fool wrote , retailers had legitimate reasons for increasing sales around this time in years past, although now the same sales can more or less have throughout the holiday season (and often much earlier). There will be more “deals”. Always is.
So, are you staying at home this weekend or would you like to go shopping? Do you have specific items you are looking for on sale?