Advices to get the best deals
Some of us wait all year for the Black Friday shopping season, our heads filled with the promise of scoring the best price of the year.
1. Start early. Gone are the days when Black Friday simply meant checking the Sunday circulars to see which local retailers had the best deals. Black Friday has morphed into a whole month of deals and savings, and online retailers also regularly update prices throughout the event.To judge how good the actual sales really are once it's crunch time, you'll need to track the deals leading up to Black Friday. The same goes for Cyber Monday, which now stretches into a week of online specials.
2. Do your homework. Only rookies head out on Black Friday unprepared. Getting ready means studying the ads—in print and online—the weekend before Thanksgiving.
3. Use price and coupon tools. You don’t have to go retailer-by-retailer to compare prices.
4. Use loyalty programs. Stores often have loyalty programs that offer sales and promotions to their members first, then let them earn rewards on what they buy. Signing up for Black Friday shopping alerts will get you the early word on promotions, coupons, and discounts. In some cases, you can even find out whether the products you want are in stock or eligible for a buy online/pick up at the store option that saves you on shipping.
5. Create a budget—and stick to it. Yes, this sounds simple. But Black Friday sales, especially the doorbuster specials available in limited quantities, are designed to get you into a store so that the retailer can sell you something else. And once there, it's easy to get caught up in the buying excitement.
1. Start early. Gone are the days when Black Friday simply meant checking the Sunday circulars to see which local retailers had the best deals. Black Friday has morphed into a whole month of deals and savings, and online retailers also regularly update prices throughout the event.To judge how good the actual sales really are once it's crunch time, you'll need to track the deals leading up to Black Friday. The same goes for Cyber Monday, which now stretches into a week of online specials.
2. Do your homework. Only rookies head out on Black Friday unprepared. Getting ready means studying the ads—in print and online—the weekend before Thanksgiving.
3. Use price and coupon tools. You don’t have to go retailer-by-retailer to compare prices.
4. Use loyalty programs. Stores often have loyalty programs that offer sales and promotions to their members first, then let them earn rewards on what they buy. Signing up for Black Friday shopping alerts will get you the early word on promotions, coupons, and discounts. In some cases, you can even find out whether the products you want are in stock or eligible for a buy online/pick up at the store option that saves you on shipping.
5. Create a budget—and stick to it. Yes, this sounds simple. But Black Friday sales, especially the doorbuster specials available in limited quantities, are designed to get you into a store so that the retailer can sell you something else. And once there, it's easy to get caught up in the buying excitement.