The holiday season is around the corner. Both consumers and retailers are hurriedly getting ready for the holiday shopping rush.
Online sales during the crucial U.S. holiday season are expected to rise 4.8% from a year earlier as retailers go all out to woo inflation-hit consumers with even bigger discounts and promotions according to a report from Adobe Analytics.
Therefore, having some tricks up your sleeve on shopping smart online during holidays like Halloween is worthwhile. This can also help you not to accumulate too much consumer debt.
Avoid debt by shopping smart online.
Shopping Smart Online During Holiday Season
More and more consumers are turning to the Internet to do their holiday shopping. It saves a lot of time and allows you to shop on your own schedule. Wherever you shop, our credit counseling advice is to a holiday budget. It’s also important to take advantage of saving opportunities. So, what else can we do to make shopping smart online a more natural thing? Let’s break it down!
Timing is Everything!
During the season, retailers and consumers capitalize upon certain days that are prime for purchasing holiday gifts. The weeks following Halloween retailers start their promotions and typically it is called early Black Friday. Then comes the biggest deals of the season along with Black Friday as well as Cyber Monday. Also, since recent years, retailers have started taking markdowns on products mid-year, too. I recently came across July Black Friday! So, it is worth keeping an eye out for great deals throughout the year! You can also take advantage of Prime Day on Amazon for more tech like gadgets you plan on gifting!
Watch that Shipping Costs
Shop smart and ship smart! This should be your shopping motto! If you know you have a few big purchases to buy, wait to buy them all together. This way you can save on shipping costs. Some places tend to waive shipping fees if an order is over a certain price.
Look for Deals Deals and Even Bigger Deals!
Dig the internet sandbox for promotion codes and coupons! Sometimes you wouldn’t imagine you could have that many discounts! All it takes is a simple search on your search engine! Places such as RetailMeNot are a good example! If you carry store credit cards or sometimes even sign up for one, you can receive considerable discounts. However, keep in mind that these credit cards can add up too much debt to your financial portfolio and throw your finances off. Another place to look is your cash back deals from your bank cards. You more rack up some good bargains there too!
Above all, Shop Cautiously!
When shopping through numerous deals, be careful not to make any unnecessary spontaneous purchases. It is easy to get sucked into the deals that websites are promoting. Go into your shopping knowing exactly what you are looking for, and buy only that. Beware of all the recommendations that appear when you are shopping online. That is a smart retail strategy to get you to buy more! Shopping smart online is only possible with discipline! So, this holiday season make sure you plan, budget and discipline yourself!
If you’re struggling to pay off debt, schedule a free credit counseling session with us today.
