Don’t Follow the Crowd on Black Friday!
The traditional beginning of the holiday season happens the day after Thanksgiving. That day has been given the nickname, Black Friday, and it has for a long time been seen as the day with the biggest sales. Often crowds will line up the night before to get into the store first to get the limited big sale items. If a lot of people are going shopping, that would provide information to you that it may be a good time to shop. However, in the article one of the underlying themes was, “If retailers are good at anything, it’s keeping us dazed and confused,” said Doug Berg, “chief tracker” at the Minnesota-based price-tracking service TrackIf. Retailers intentionally spread information that invites big crowds without the actual sales to merit them. This means there is an imbalance in the expectation of sales versus the actual price savings. Companies tend to have periodic sales throughout the holiday period to keep enticing people to come into the store. The best strategy for holiday shoppers is to wait until an item they want is on sale and to avoid buying other items in the store that aren’t really marked down. Stores do a good job of offering discounted merchandise that for the most part is permanently marked down. One of Doug’s suggestions is to keep tabs on what the price of an item has been historically. If an item is always on sale, then that is simply its normal price. There is a lot to consider when trying to find the best prices for gifts this holiday season.
While it may be a fun experience to go Black Friday shopping, it will likely not be the cheapest experience. Even though there are large crowds, effective advertising has created an atmosphere where people are not truly aware of the real discounts. There is wisdom in following the crowds since they may know something you don’t, but, in this situation it is better if you do your own research since the information is publicly available. There is no “hidden” information about sales that you would not know about since that would defeat the purpose of the sale. While the fact that a lot of people plan to go shopping on Black Friday, you are best off doing your own research and not participating in the spectacle.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-holiday-savings-1124-biz-20141121-story.html