For those of you who are able to awaken from your food coma this weekend is going to be your biggest shopping stint of the year. Before you put together your gameplan with your shopping team as you scarf down your fourth piece of pecan pie, let me give you the scouting report on what deals to go after. I’m going to break down what-to buy and what-not-to buy during this Gobbling weekend.
Before I do that, I want to drop some great news. Most retailers are now offering their ‘door-buster’ deals online. This is great news,because you can sit there in your elastic pj’s and shop from your couch. No more camping out and fending off seasoned, aggressive shoppers.
Offense – What to score
These are items the items that you need to aggressively go after on Black Friday & Cyber Monday (Monday after Thanksgiving) if you want a shot at the title as coolest gift giver:
[check_list]
[list_item]Laptops used for basic functions (email, social media, solitaire) – Wait to go after machines you need for gaming, downloading, streaming.[/list_item]
[list_item]Computer accessories & performance items – monitors, keyboards, hard drives.[/list_item]
[list_item]Small gadgets - Think Brookstone stuff.[/list_item]
[list_item]DVD’s & Games – Especially box sets.[/list_item]
[list_item]Bundled gaming consoles & accessories[/list_item]
[list_item]Pots & Pans – Other Cookware[/list_item]
[list_item]Smaller kitchen appliances – Think ‘As Seen on TV.’[/list_item]
[list_item]Desks[/list_item]
[list_item]Bedding stuff[/list_item]
[list_item]Apple products – it’s the only time in the whole year they put items on sale.
[/list_item]
[list_item]Non-winter clothing[/list_item]
[/check_list]
Defense – Protect your wallet
These are the items that you need to sack and wait to buy. I’ve added the best time to go after these QB’s (quality buys):
[check_list]
[list_item]High-End TV’s – Wait until January, right before the Super Bowl. This is when the new models come in and the older high-end models go on sale.[/list_item]
[list_item]Laptops – if you are using it for music, video streaming, downloading, uploading, gaming, etc., wait until the back-to-school deals to land a quality laptop.[/list_item]
[list_item]Toys – Wait until Cyber Monday and do not wait until the last week before Christmas, prices soar back up to profit on last minute shoppers.[/list_item]
[list_item]Items from high end stores – Nordstroms, Saks, Neiman Marcus, etc. – these items hardly a sale. Wait for their semi-annual sales to splurge.[/list_item]
[list_item]Christmas stuff – You actually save more dough closer the holiday and, of course, after the holidays.[/list_item]
[list_item]2012 calendars – Wait until late January or early February to get one of these (who uses these anyway?).[/list_item]
[list_item]Jewelry – Sorry fellas, those sparkly things you wanted for your lady are not really on sale, they just put a big red price tag on it to trick you. Plan ahead next year.[/list_item]
[list_item]Watches – The time says wait until mid-January.[/list_item]
[list_item]Winter clothes – Buy the essentials and wait until the spring lines come out to get huge discounts on winter clothes. Check out our blog post about shopping out of season.[/list_item]
[/check_list]
Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family and friends and remember to stick to your budget! Gobble gobble.
Tony