Everything You Should Do Now If You’re Shopping on Black Friday
Black Friday is usually accompanied by a lot of excitement and excitement, despite its slightly depressing history . If you don’t take the right approach and prepare, you could make a few rookie mistakes and end up being exploited by retailers rather than the other way around. If you want to become a more savvy shopper, here are some practical steps you can take to ensure success on November 29th.
First things first: have a budget.
It’s easy to get carried away by offers that seem like a good deal and that you can’t afford to miss. But buying blindly and letting your emotions take over usually leads to regrets and huge credit card balances down the road. Come with a plan. How much can you realistically afford to spend on Black Friday? Having such a device will help you spend more consciously and avoid impulse purchases. If you don’t know where or how to start, there are budgeting apps tailored to your financial goals and general budgeting techniques that can make getting started easier.
Know what you need/want
Besides knowing how much to spend, knowing what you really need or want will help you focus and avoid buying things you don’t really need. Make a list of things you want or need. If you shop on Amazon, you can use the same tools as Prime Day to set price alerts or make a list of products you want to keep an eye on ( Alexa devices can also notify you when they go on sale). They may not all go on sale, but if they do, you’ll be ready and happy.
Use the tools available to you
There are many apps to help you shop smarter. One of my favorites is Honey . You can save a list of items you want to buy this Black Friday by adding them to the Honey dropdown , and this has several benefits. First, it will keep the items you want to keep track of organized and easily accessible. Secondly, it will track the prices of these products and alert you when they go on sale at any major retail store. You can see what these pre-sale prices are worth to see if they are actually bargains or a ploy by retailers to take advantage of you , and even compare them to other major retailers’ prices to see who has the best deal . . You can see how to set up a droplist here . We’ll also keep you updated on the best verified Black Friday deals as soon as they start.
Using other price tracking tools is also a good idea to make sure you’re getting a historically good price on any deal. You will be able to see the history of any product and compare other sales with the current price. If it was cheaper before, it might be better to wait for another sale.
Shop online and in advance
Black Friday sales inevitably started early, as they do every year. Buying early means you’ll get a lot of on-demand products that will likely sell out quickly, and as previous sales have shown, products that sell out early aren’t always restocked in time for the actual event. It’s best to buy them in advance if it’s a popular item that already has a good discount (Honey’s price history will tell you how good that discount is).
To avoid crowds and possibly getting trampled, try shopping online. According to the National Retail Federation, most Black Friday shoppers plan to go in person . However, retailers know that many people still shop online . As such, many retailers are also listing their best deals online, making it more of a hybrid event, and most major retailers offer free shipping as part of their loyalty programs anyway.
If you only listen to one piece of Black Friday shopping advice, let it be this: Don’t buy anything you weren’t going to buy anyway .