Christmas Shopping: Saving Money No Matter When or How You Buy

When most people go Christmas shopping, they have no illusions about coming home with extra money. But, is that really necessary? Here’s how to get all of your shopping done and still have money left for a generous holiday feast.

Black Friday Strategy

The original humongous shopping day in America – Black Friday. It’s the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving, and regarded by many as the start of the Christmas holiday shopping season.

The term came into use during the 1960s, but it was a long-standing tradition prior to that. Each decade since at least the ‘60s has intensified the desire for more and better deals and, today, it’s not unusual to see ridiculously low-priced merchandise during Black Friday.

In fact, the shopping “holiday” has become so popular that people willingly line up outside of stores, some even camping out overnight, just to get in the door first so that they can snag the best deals before anyone else.

For stores, this is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, shopping day of the year. It’s when 4th quarter sales and revenue can get a much-needed boost, rounding out the year nicely.

Cyber Money Strategy

Cyber Monday is considered a “companion” shopping holiday that follows Black Friday. It’s the first Monday after thanksgiving. As the name suggests, its focus is on Internet shopping. The term was coined by members of the ecommerce marketing community back in 2005.

The idea was to promote increased sales for web-based retailers. And, their aggressive marketing strategy worked. Many online stores offer Cyber Monday coupons or Cyber Monday deals that last the entire weekend.

Since then, more and more stores, even traditional brick and mortar stores took note and adjusted,. No serious business is now without a website presence and even web savvy businesses have adjusted their marketing campaigns in response. Cyber Monday deals from BedBathandBeyond.com is a clear example of how this kind of campaign operates and what kind of savings can be made.

for example, represent a significant portion of the company’s sales post Black Friday. And, because the store is a brick-and-mortar operation, it also benefits from traditional Black Friday sales.

How to Benefit From The Deals

Make a list. Seriously. This is the single greatest thing you can do to save money. Without list-making, you’re at the whim of your subconscious and the merchants. Lists are also a good way of keeping track of where all the sales and discounts are currently on offer. How else would you know that the Raise website has Lowes discounts if you didn’t make a note of it?

What would you buy, right now, if it weren’t on sale? Would you pay full price for a new Nintendo system, for example? If not, it’s probably not a good idea to buy it when it’s on sale. People tend to get hung up on the fact that they’re getting a deal that they forget to think about whether they actually want what they’re purchasing.

Also, if you make a list beforehand, you’ll tend not to forget people, buy too much for some and not enough for others, and you can set and stick to a defined budget.

If you know in advance that you’ll need $200 to put on a nice family meal, for example, you can set that aside right from the very beginning.

Rosalie Bennett is a retail strategist and this enables her to offer some interesting insights for shoppers. She enjoys sharing some of her tips and suggestions with an online audience and writes for several lifestyle and shopping websites.