SAN DIEGO — The National Retail Federation expects this year's holiday spending will reach record levels with shoppers spending a total of up to $966 billion. And that spending has already started.
The tree lots are going up, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” is on repeat and now early Black Friday deals are popping up in inboxes.
“There's a lot of hype leading up to it kind of like the good old days but they're [retailers] still not waiting until Black Friday itself to roll out those great deals,” said Julie Ramhold, Dealnews.com, consumer analyst.
She says a month-long Black Friday gives shoppers more time to research the deals.
“Definitely try to shop around some but some retailers haven't started their deal rollout yet. So, it may be a bit harder to do some price comparisons,” said Ramhold.
She says if it's a great deal and you have the money, go ahead, and buy it but warns that due to inflation, shoppers should not expect deeper discounts between now and Christmas compared to last year.
“We're all kind of hoping for deep discounts and hoping that retailers will have mercy on us. But it sort of remains to be seen on how far reaching those will go,” said Ramhold.
But there are great deals to be had such as electronics, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, smartphones, laptops and TV’s.
On October 22, Target launched its price match guarantee. This means if you buy a target item between then and December 24 and the price drops in the store, they'll match it but don't expect big adjustments.
“You could get an extra $10 back or something like that, which is nothing to sneeze at, every little bit helps. But at the same time, that should give you a little bit of breathing room when you're looking at these deals,” said Ramhold.
Gift cards make great presents, but experts recommend that you can hold off for better deals until Black Friday or buy in December such as spend 25 dollars and get ten dollars back on a bonus card that has a redemption period.
“If you have a gift card promotion running through December 31, then you usually can't start redeeming the bonus cards that you receive as part of that promotion until January,” said Ramhold.
Products that shoppers should avoid purchasing on Black Friday are winter clothing and fitness equipment. Ramhold says they will have deeper discounts on those items after the holidays.
“We're going to see a big push for things like holiday decor around Black Friday, and you can absolutely wait until after Christmas,” said Ramhold.
Now you can start shopping for holiday deals before you've had the chance to take down our Halloween decorations.
“It may lead to shoppers spending more because they can stretch it out over time,” said Ramhold.
The National Retail Federation says online and other non-store sales, are expected to increase between 7% and 9% to a total of between $273.7 billion and $278.8 billion.
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