Blogging for Change

How to be a world class last-minute shopper

by Jesse Campbell on
12/2/2015
in Budgeting and Building Savings

Did you miss out on Black Friday? Eh, probably for the best.

What about Cyber Monday? Yeah, it’s a lot of great deals on stuff you didn’t really want. Better to skip that one, too.

So now what? If you’ve still got presents to buy you’re far from out of luck. Sales will continue to appear and disappear from now until the end of the year. That’s why it’s okay to be a last minute shopper. In fact, it’s even possible to be a last minute shopper and still get great deals on everything you buy. You just need to follow these three rules:

Be Flexible

For retailers, the key to these massive Black Friday/Cyber Monday type deals has always been this – to get you to buy things you never meant to buy.

When we hear about these huge blowout sales we immediately picture all the cool, very-specific things we want to buy. Then we get to the store (or the website). Maybe they have what we wanted. And maybe it’s on sale. But what’s definitely on sale is a whole mess of things we never considered buying before we got there.

Retailers use your expectations (and imagination) to work you into spending mode, then present you with cheap (potentially unnecessary) items to buy. If you don’t walk away with what you really wanted, that’s bad for you and good for the retailer.

But what if there wasn’t anything in particular you wanted?

By remaining flexible and open-minded, you can maximize the potential of all those late season deals without overspending or being disappointed.

Follow the Trends

Rather-Be-Shopping.com tracked December bargains over a period of 8 years and found a few useful trends for any last minute shoppers.

  • Two weeks from Christmas you’ll start to see some great deals on HDTVs pop up.
  • Ten days from Christmas laptops, video game systems, and toys very often go back on sale in order to hit year-end sales projections and avoid missing what’s considered the cutoff date from many of these items.
  • One week from Christmas is a great time to take another look at clothing, shoes, and kitchen appliances as these items often go back on sale one last time before the holiday.

Just because these sales have occurred historically doesn’t mean they will again this year, but if you’re waiting until the last minute it’s a good idea to keep your eyes open around these days as a lot of good stuff should be going on sale.

Don’t Panic

Remember, the best thing you can do for a retailer is buy something you don’t need/want/like because you couldn’t get the thing you actually wanted.

As the season winds down pressure starts to build on last-minute shoppers. You may feel inclined to just buy something for the sake of buying something. Resist the urge to make panicky purchases.

As noted above, good deals will keep appearing right up until the very end. So stay patient, don’t panic, and keep on the lookout for the perfect deal on the perfect gift.

Being a last-minute shopper doesn’t mean you have to pay full price for a happy holiday season. As long as you’re vigilant and you keep your head on straight, you can score all the frugal buys with half the headaches. Good luck!

Jesse Campbell photo.

Jesse Campbell is the Content Manager at MMI, with over ten years of experience creating valuable educational materials that help families through everyday and extraordinary financial challenges.

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