What to Buy in December and Save

The unofficial start of the holiday shopping season is Thanksgiving night, when stores open and online hustle and bustle begins as consumers jockey for holiday shopping deals in store and on the world wide web.

But as successful and lauded as Thanksgiving night was, Black Friday was equally impressive, followed up by an outstanding turnout on Cyber Monday.

November easily is one of the busiest sales months of the year, with those aforementioned shopping days shattering records and leaving consumers with a bit of spending “lag” and not sure what, if anything, they should be buying as December arrives.

Based on the November sales numbers and what transpired on Thanksgiving weekend, money might be tight, especially for those who cashed in on the online sales offered by a multitude of retailers.

Thanksgiving weekend is classified as that day through Cyber Monday when counting the entirety of the sales made during that time.

Thanksgiving Day scored with 3.7 billion in online sales, 28 percent more than last year and against predictions of 16.5 percent of an expected increase; Black Friday was at 6.2 billion in online sales, up 28 percent versus 2017 against another 16.5 percent projection.^[1]

The same report showed 165 million shoppers hit the stores, with spending a little down (about $20) but consumers in the age bracket of 35 to 44 spending more than anything (roughly $413 per person).

Cyber Monday was the real winner overall, however, with a massive increase in sales versus last year and more proof that consumers are gravitating toward online deals more so than hitting the stores.

Cyber Monday was up to nearly 8 billion in sales, an increase of 19 percent; Black Friday in total was at 23 billion for both online and in stores making it the most lucrative day of shopping this year, with a 9 percent increase from 2017.^[2]

Leading the online charge not surprisingly was Amazon and its nearly 180 million items purchased from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, although retail figures weren’t reported or discussed.^[3]

Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy, along with Kohl’s, looked to have the strongest of all retailers as far as total shopping, not surpassingly considering these are typically the most marketed and consistent shopping destinations for most consumers.

The web site and online shopping hub wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows for all retailers as sites such as J Crew and Lowe’s experienced quite a few online snags as consumers had trouble accessing those respective retailer sites and were greeted with the inability to order, despite both brands offering respectable sales deals (J Crew was about 50 percent off).

As mentioned, 165 million shoppers hit the stores on Thanksgiving weekend, with the average shopper just over $300 per person ($313.29), and the aforementioned millennials spending the most; that 165 was down versus last year (174 million, $335 per person), but that was chalked up to more timing than anything else, noting that the Cyber Monday sales were the biggest online shopping day of all time.^[4]

All the success for retailers meant spending for consumers, which begs the question.

How much do they have left?

Chances are most shoppers exhausted their budget with that five-day Thanksgiving weekend splurge, but you’d be surprised how many consumers are still in the market for fulfilling that holiday wish list well into December.

You can’t forget about sales days that December sports, although not with the notoriety of Black Friday or Cyber Monday, such as Super Saturday, typically the last Saturday before Christmas Day on December 25.

Most research and statistics in recent years (a five-year period) show that nearly 30 percent of shoppers still are buying gifts in December, even though most have already started shopping as early as September and ramp up the buying in October and November.^[5]

Last year, the last-minute gift giving market had approximately 126 people shopping on Super Saturday, for example, which was on December 23 in 2017; Roughly 16 percent of Americans shopped and bought final gifts on that day.^[6]

Super Saturday is for those consumers who didn’t partake in any of the Black Friday or Cyber Monday hoopla, and instead took a more cautious approach and believe that most sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be comparable if they wait until December or Super Saturday, specifically.

If you’re one of the millions of shoppers who waits until December or have a few more gifts to buy, here’s what you should be focusing on in December to save the most, even if you’re still reeling from Thanksgiving weekend:

The two “T’s” have it: Tools and Toys are discounted heavily in December

So maybe after the dust has settled on another Black Friday or Cyber Monday, you’re starring at a tool set for mom or dad and enough toys to fill the sleigh of Santa and his reindeer three times over.

Sorry about your luck.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday really don’t appeal to toys in the purest sense but are more centered on laptops, phones, gadgets and gaming systems.

That doesn’t mean December isn’t the same or better for toys, gaming systems included.

The weeks leading up to December 25, you’ll see toy sales and discounts dip lower than what you would have seen on Black Friday, which is hard to believe given how success that day was.

A report from only a few years ago that highlighted Walmart showed that toy discounts can be anywhere from 30 to 40 percent off in the weeks leading up to the holidays, Christmas Day specifically.^[7]

As for the gaming consoles, most consumers highlighted December as the better time to buy, with emphasis on cheap games individually priced. Last year, games could be found for as little as $24.^[8]

Amazon has traditionally listed toy deals in December where you can find them for as low as $10 per toy, marketed as Toys under $10 Shipped.

Toys and tools, if you want to get super specific, have a date that has long been considered the best time to shop. Typically, around the middle of December, is when toy deals and tool discounts are at their peak, for example in 2015 the date was December 16 (or around that time).^[9]

That’s when you should be looking, mid-month but honestly December, in its entirety before December 25, is all about the best deals on toys, games and tools.

Decoration dilemma: Yes, you can get them cheaper in December if you’re patient

Everyone knows that decorations are around 80 percent off if you buy them after December 25; that’s a no-brainer in that the stores are ready to unload what hasn’t already been purchased.

But often overlooked is that decorations in December (even before December 25) are discounted as you get closer to the holidays.^[10]

One suggestion centers on using what you have, decor wise, for the holidays and using the weeks before Christmas to freshen up and add a few new pieces to what’s already up and then having them for next year and subsequent years as well, rather than a complete overhaul with only a week or so to spare.

Typically, stores offer a bigger discount the closer you get to the holiday but a popular sale weeks out from Christmas Day is up to 50 percent off or a lot of buy one, get one deals from various retailers, such as a Home Goods store, Big Lots and others that are already highly discounted but offer more in the way of clearance pricing.

Gift Cards: Huge deals expected all month long, just as Target this Sunday, December 2

Gift cards are hugely popular gifts around the holidays, with some 56 percent of the population buying them in December or as part of an overall holiday strategy.^[11]

Take Target, for example this year.

As of December 2, 2018, Target is offering the opportunity, per the above linked report, to earn $300 in total gift card purchase for 10 percent off, in store and online, and is the only day of the entire year when Target offers discounts on gift cards.

Other retailers also give incentive for shoppers to purchase gift cards in December, as well, although Target’s is highly publicized and also took place last year, too.

A few more gift card deals to consider: iTunes and Starbucks, just to name a few.

iTunes is reportedly going to be offering $100 worth of gift cards for $85, and Starbucks also is rumored to be following up on last year’s promotion ($5 worth of gift cards just for buying two holiday drinks, which you’ll probably buy anyway as part of your daily routine).^[12]

And while we’re talking about what to buy specifically, we can’t overlook two important shopping days in December that rival Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Consumers can’t overlook Green Monday and Free Shipping Day, which occur on December 10 and December 14, respectively. Green Monday is usually second only to Cyber Monday for online sales in the calendar year; 2017 saw Green Monday deals of 20 percent off $100 spent at Target and JCPenny 25 percent off under $100 and 30 percent off more than that, with Green Monday with sales on Green Monday, 2016, at 1.6 billion and on a steady climb each year prior to that.^[13]

These two shopping days have plenty of deals (to go along with Super Saturday) making December a highly respectable month to buy gifts.

While Black Friday and the entire Thanksgiving weekend get plenty of much-deserved publicity, you can’t ignore that most consumers simply aren’t done shopping yet for the holidays.

A report showed that 56 percent of consumers still aren’t done shopping, and more than 90 percent of the belief that deals are yet to come that will rival that of Black Friday as retailers want that one final push to finish their year strong, sales wise.^[14]

This information only serves to reiterate the point that what you buy in December is predicted on finding the very best deals on the items that are going to be more sales driven than others, with retailers discounting specific items in the month of December (like toys more than anything else) to grab the attention of potentially exhausted consumers who have already dropped $300 per person (only an average) and might be inclined to hold off on that one last Christmas or holiday gift.

Shopping in December isn’t uncommon, but if you’re doing so without a clear-cut goal in mind or knowing what makes the most sense and is discounted the heaviest, you’ll end up not only being the person who missed out on Thanksgiving weekend sales but also ended up spending more in the month of December than you really had to.