Every year, Evans on Marketing offers a list of holiday shopping tips intended to help shoppers avoid overspending their budgets. Since the holiday season starts earlier and earlier each year, this post keeps getting moved up. In 2012, when the holiday shopping tips were first presented, they are were published on December 10. This year, the post is on November 9. Why? Many retailers have launched their holiday shopping campaigns. Virtually no large retailer is actually waiting for Thanksgiving or Black Friday to begin their marketing campaigns.
So, here are the 2016 shopping tips as a checklist [Click the list to see a larger version.]:
I am still in shock that people are already doing their holiday shopping. I usually start my holiday shopping on Black Friday, but now many stores are advertising sales way before Thanksgiving or Black Friday. I guess by doing this marketers want people to start shopping earlier so they can make more money. The more sales there are the more it will attract consumers. All of these tips will come in handy for me because holiday shopping this year will be different from the past.
As the years go on, the time to start shopping for Christmas, Hanukkah and other holidays starts much sooner than ever. In the next 10 years, these sales could very well becoming in October. Dr. Evans gives some invaluable advice for the shopping season. My favorite suggestion is to cash in gift cards in January because one will get the most bang for the buck solely because the sales are even better post Christmas. Also, I like the idea that one should not be ashamed to shop at a less classy place like Walmart because at the end of the day, the product is the same but will probably be cheaper. The recipient of the gift will not be able to tell the difference between a TV from Walmart and a TV from the Sony store. Finally, a useful idea for online shopping involves looking at both the retail price AND the shipping. Sometimes, the object at hand may seem like a good deal, but when 20 dollars of shipping is tacked on, it becomes less of one. One must be creative during this season to avoid excess spending.
The list of tips provided has some valuable information that I didn’t know. What I thought was crucial to note is the days that I should be shopping. I actually started gift-searching last week and realized that Amazon was already promoting its Black Friday sale. Now that I know the best dates to shop is after Black Friday, I plan on adding things to my Wish List and seeing is prices stoop further down.
Chinese web users just experienced an annual online shopping celebration, Double 11. According to the data from the owner of Double 11, Alibaba, the sales volume ofTmall (an online shopping website also belongs to Alibaba) compass ￥10 billion (about $1.5 billion) in 6 minutes and 58 seconds. However, three years ago, in 2013, it cost about 6 hours to reach ￥10 billion. It looks an incredible reality. Chinese people are tending to prefer to shopping online. And Double 11 is not only a day for shopping but a festival actually.
I will definitely be using these tips during my holiday shopping. I find this time of year makes it impossible to try and find anything and coming from a big family does not make it any easier! I find the most important tip on the list is to stick to a budget because it is much easier to overspend then it is to underspend. Im excited to use the comparison sites and I hope that helps in making my holiday shopping more successful!
U.S. has Black Friday, and China has Singles’ day(11/11). It was a festival for singles and later, it turned out to be a shopping festivals. It became the world’s largest e-commerce event and it absolutely overshadows the Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Alibaba just renewed its record and reached $17.73 billion worth of sales on Friday. From the website named REUTERS, “the final total marked a 32 percent rise from 2015.” The reason that the Singles’ Day can be so successful is because of the population but not limited to this single reason. If you want to read more information about this event, you can visit REUTERS and search for the article named “Alibaba posts record Singles’ Day sales, but growth slows.” It became world event and you should notice.
Actually stores always have discount periodically, the Black Friday is almost the biggest deal around the year. So I agree with the tip said try not to buy anything at full price. Also, i think set a budget is important, i prefer to make a list for what i should buy during the Holiday Season and then waiting for the deals, that helps me not to buy too much thing that i am not real need.
I like that this post mentioned abiding by a certain plan to prevent from overspending because I always start my holiday shopping with a structured plan of how much I’m going to spend on each person and who exactly I am buying for but I never seem to stick to it. I consistently end up overspending on each gift because I’m too impatient to wait for the product to be offered for a cheaper price. Another rule mentioned on this post that would probably do wonders for my bank account if I actually abided by it is the rule of not doing all my shopping at once. I always choose convenience over saving money and that is a habit I plan on breaking this holiday season.
Every year the holiday shopping season begins earlier. Retailers aim to get customers shopping even earlier than Black Friday. The store I work for begins their Black Friday sale the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This attracts the customers who do not want to be involved with the chaos of Black Friday and increases sales right before the holiday. Another big event for the holiday shopping season is Cyber Monday, which is the Monday following Thanksgiving. Many retailers participate in this event as well in order to appeal to those who choose to stay home on Black Friday but still want to get a deal.
Are YOU a smart shopper?
This article was definitely a must read. When the holiday season comes around, it is hard to resist blowing unreasonable amounts of money on festive things that we won’t even use in two months from now. The most valuable thing a reader will learn from this article, in my opinion, is to learn to shop on the right days! While there is endless hype about Black Friday, Dr. Evans is right; there are other times during the season where we would be able to catch deals that are better than the ones on Black Friday. Marketers are smart, in that they know how to trick the customers. Everyone saves their shopping for black friday and cyber monday, so businesses assume that if they offer better sales before and after those two dates, they will be overlooked. Personally, I will have a better strategy when it comes to making my list of gifts ahead of time, so that I can keep my eye out for deals long before Black Friday.
These holiday shopping tips are very useful for this upcoming holiday because they give you great insight on what to expect when you go out shopping . With the holiday shopping campaigns already out for almost every store, it is hard not to buy everything right now. These tips have informed me that I do not have to buy anything at full price and the stores are there working for you and not the other way around. Many stores over great deals and great warranties so the only way you lose is if you do not put these tips in action.
I thought this blog was common sense about how to buy discounted items. Many of the ideas I already knew about were nothing special. For years, my family has been extremely aware of getting the biggest bargain. This blog simply restated all those ideas that really are part of my family’s tradition.
Out of 35 tips, there is nothing new to you? 🙂
Actually this tip is very useful for me! I’m a compulsive consumer and always purchase something that I do not need at that time. By reading this post, I think I should write a shopping plan for the Black Friday!
Shopping for the holidays is always stressful. What on earth do I get my sister? Or my dad? What if I leave it to the last minute and al the good stuff is gone? And it seems that every year the holiday shopping comes sooner and sooner. Black Friday is now beginning on Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday is starting to become apart of Black Friday. And instead of just one day, sales are happening through the weekend. During a stressful time, its always great to have tips to get you through it. Evans onMarketing list of holiday shopping tips is very useful. Not doing all your holiday shopping in one trip is definitely a good reminder. I feel like there used to be the idea that you had to get all the shopping done on Black Friday. Sales really do go all the way until the end of the holidays, for people that have last minute shopping. I never knew though that the best sales days are not Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I guess thats another misconception about the shopping period. It’s important to try your best and be a smart shopper this season. I think these tips will definitely help.
I think that this blog was very helpful. The most help tip that I was able to see was that most of the better sales happen around dec 10 to the 24th. I was also under the impression that black friday was the best day of shopping during the year. From knowing this information, I will definitely be hitting up the stores around that time for my last minute holiday shopping.