Thanksgiving - Best Day to Score Best Deals

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family. But with the special deals at hand, many people join a shopping queue shortly after the Thanksgiving dinner. But the debate is not if the deals are good on Thanksgiving but rather if it’s worth waiting for Black Friday deals. Over the past years, there has been a differentiation on the products being sold on these two days.

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How Thanksgiving deals work offline and online

Shopping for the best Thanksgiving deals is different when it comes to physical stores and online stores. Soon after the Thanksgiving dinner, those looking to score the best deals are out shopping. From a traditional perspective, Thanksgiving deals were a good time to purchase tech products at lower rates while Cyber Monday was recommended for travel deals, clothing or cosmetics. However, the lines have blurred between these days and with the added Black Friday deals, it is hard to tell which days are recommended for certain items.

From the perspective of the shopping experience, Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity to look for the best deals. This is due to the fact that most people were off from work with plenty of time for shopping.

Online shopping has changed Thanksgiving deals. With distinct advantages such as the short shopping experience with no quest within the comfort of the home, e-commerce has slowly become the best days for a deal.

Why Thanksgiving is the best day to score deals

As with all other best deal days, the competition is fierce. This means that similarly to Black Friday, stores start rolling out deals even before Thanksgiving. But there is a clear distinction when it comes to the best deals between these two periods. Since the Thanksgiving deals are concentrated around a single day, they tend to offer more tempting offers to buyers.

Those looking to buy particular items can benefit the most when it comes to the deals on the day of Thanksgiving. If a plan for a purchase is already made, it is much easier to make the specific purchase at a discounted rate on Thanksgiving instead of waiting for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Top tips for Thanksgiving deals

As the deals are mainly available for a single day, Thanksgiving shoppers need to act quickly. But this doesn’t mean rushing into purchases which are not sustainable. With many product categories, the shopping habits can be traced and starting from this point, proper planning can begin.

Learn from previous years

Shoppers who want to get the best deal for Thanksgiving can be sure that billions are being spent on this day. But most purchases fall into one of the categories involving top of the range televisions, laptops, and household appliances.

These categories represent real-world purchases. For example, the Bing search engine informed that in 2017, the discount period saw an increase in the search term “4K TV”. Amazon, one of the biggest online retailers named a smart speaker and a TV as top-selling products during this period.

So electronics represent a large segment of the market when it comes to purchasers’ interest. But there are other types of products which can spike interest as well. For example, those looking to work more efficiently can consider a Smart Adjustable Desk. The SmartDesk series is worth watching for the best deals. Those who still want to sit at work but who also want an ergonomic seat can also consider Thanksgiving as a great time to make a planned purchase at better rates.

Other deals can involve consumer goods for families and for the home. It seems that Thanksgiving deals are not solely focused on a few categories as previously but rather on offering a great shopping experience for the deal hunters. The day also marks the start of the busiest shopping period of the year.

Research as a starting point

The best purchases are those made based on research. Since many retailers publish their deals even before the sale, it’s worth having a look through the products with a discount. Most importantly, making research for Thanksgiving is one of the layers to build on the entire Christmas shopping plan.

Proper research allows shoppers to understand products, how they work, how they compare and what their real price is. This information proves crucial and for many people, it simply means doing the research on a select number of products. This brings the discussion over the right number of products to monitor but shopping experts recommend focusing on a few products in order to avoid overspending.

So which tools can be used for research? Online shoppers clearly benefit from price comparison websites. They can be the foundation of the research. But other information which refers to the best deals is valuable as well. Some Thanksgiving deals are aggregated in specialized websites and they normally come with Black Friday best deals information as the two events are so close together.

Make a list

There are various financial advisors recommending shopping lists. Many online bank accounts now come with lists and the ability to plan purchases. Amazon offers shopping lists and wishes lists. But most other online stores now offer the possibility of selecting the products and saving them into shopping lists.

But there are plenty of other intuitive solutions as well. For example, shopping list apps can be a good alternative. Solutions include Grocery Pal, AnyList, Grocery IQ, Buy Me A Pie and Favado. Of course, some of these apps allow people to see deals in different stores and this makes them more valuable than a simple paper-based list. They can serve as a tracking solution to see the discounted rates for products leading up to Thanksgiving.

Set the right budget

Setting a spending limit is also recommended by most advisers. People can easily get distracted by the various Thanksgiving offers and spend more on credit then they can really afford. It is why so many deals are perceived as bad, as they bring people into debt, regardless of the discount.

Setting a spending limit is one of the great ways to ensure that Christmas shopping is not influenced as well. The good news is that the budget can be easily managed, regardless of the spending limit. One of the most popular apps for this purpose is made by Mint. It is one of the most effective all-in-one apps for creating and tracking spending. Most importantly, it comes with a holistic approach which even alerts users on the days when the bills are due so that the purchases can be programmed realistically.  There are many other apps which allow users to make the most when it comes to budgeting and even if they are not specific to the pre-Christmas sales, they can be used to set a budget.

Start early

It is not uncommon to hear financial advisers recommending the search for a product from early November. A few retailers offer information about products on sale even weeks before Thanksgiving. Popular products which were known to be discounted up to 50% ahead of time include Amazon’s Echo as the retailer aimed to gain popularity in as many homes as possible.

But even after this point, it’s also worth mentioning that some of those seeking the best deal can still find it at the last minute if shopping online, were keeping an eye on favorite products is much more accessible.

Those who want to atomize this process can do this simply by using tools such as PriceGrabber. Such online resources are recommended to check the prices in real-time. The products are categorized, just as in a regular store. At the same time, there are various other tools which can serve as a great inspiration, especially during the holidays. For example, the “Top Searches” function on PriceGrabber allows customers to find the best trending deals.

Keep an eye on reward programs

There are various reasons to consider rewards, but they are mostly offered when customers are loyal to the retailer. From a general point of view, it is recommended to keep using the same retailer for the rewards during Thanksgiving shopping. But not all products on sale are actually subject to rewards and for this reason, customers need to inquire with the retailer to get the latest on their policies.

Rewards can also come in the form of coupons. But again, not all products on sale can be purchased with coupons. It is also common sense to get updated on these policies before the actual sale, when the staff is not so busy and when they can answer all the questions from shoppers.

Get up to date with return policies

There are various recommendations when it comes to return policies. USA Today recommends all customers check the return policies before making any purchase around the Black Friday period and this can easily apply to the busy Thanksgiving sales as well. Since the period is very busy in terms of delivery, the return policy is even more important as mistakes can be made from either side of the shopping cart.

Expectations vs. reality on best deals

Financial advisors also recommend people to simply choose the best solutions in terms of trust when it comes to deals. Many customers expect to see their favorite products on sale just to be let down when the product isn’t listed at all. It is also common sense to look at the trust of a store as many faux stores appear online during this period.

This can be done by checking the credentials, by contacting the store and even by checking social media timeline to see the age of the store and possible complaints from customers. Most importantly, in order not to get expectations crushed by various scams, financial advisors also recommend customers to keep their financial information safe. Entering financial information is only recommended on secured websites. They are marked with “https” at the beginning of the URL.

Another issue which has found its way into the sale period comes with coupons purchased from third parties. While most of them are fine and trustworthy, there are a few exceptions when they can actually be counterfeit. Gift cards can be a simple shopping tool, but they need to be purchased from trusted retailers, especially during the busy sale periods such as Thanksgiving Day.

Beware of endless exclusions

Similarly to Black Friday best deals, the sale on Thanksgiving can also come with endless exclusions. Although they are not a scam, they can certainly induce the idea of certain benefits when there is no room for them except in a few rare cases. For example, some retailers give a $10 reward when customers spend $50. But those $10 can only be spent on certain products which are on clearance or they can’t be spent on special deals such as those on Thanksgiving. Customers would have to make a new purchase at another date, from a reduced selection of products to see the reward.

This is certainly an issue which has been addressed by many specialists and consumers and it is becoming a matter of the past. But even so, in order to get the best chance for a leading Thanksgiving deal in 2018, it is worth checking the products and policies of each store before the purchase.

Final thoughts

Thanksgiving Day can be one of the best days to score impressive deals. However, there are many variables to consider and for many customers, the best deals only happen when there is research done on the customer’s side.

With broad products which start the sale season, Thanksgiving Day is certainly going to remain on the radar in the future as well. However, many experts and consumer behavior analysts also don’t recommend shoppers going out and spending during sales if they don’t feel the need. To be fair, many of the offers can still be available on Black Friday or on Cyber Monday. But consumers concerned about stocks and best deals are those who are going to make purchases on Thanksgiving Day. Simply following the recommendations above ensures they will score the sought deals.

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