Sean Carroll (Henrietta, N.Y.) - With those Black Friday sales behind us, the rest of the holiday shopping season lies ahead. At Marketplace Mall, many shoppers are looking for that next good deal. I think there were some good deals today, we look for the ‘For Sale’ signs, said Anne Riley of Fairport. I usually wait, closer towards the last minute,” said Celeste Bianchi of Spencerport. Definitely, you get the better deals when the stores start realizing all the shopping’s been done.
I think you get a better deal when you have the opportunity to go after the holidays, said Jim Riley, of Fairport. Marketing experts say that tracking inventory is the key to finding the NEXT best deal. If a store has plenty of winter scarves for example, you can bet that an upcoming sale will be pushing these scarves off the shelves.
If they’re over-crowded with inventory there’s pressure to get what you can, maybe at cost or even below cost”, said Eugene Fram, professor of marketing at RIT. So, another round of sales the week before Christmas is likely. Just after the holiday is good too. That’s when stores often pay back short-term loans they used to stock inventory before the holiday. So there’s a natural pressure there for them to move merchandise. I liken it to a cat-and-mouse game,” said Fram.
With each shopper anticipating the best time to pounce on a deal. [I] Get some ideas today and then look for it on sale, check the ads on Sunday and go out for them, said Riley. One way to take advantage of those post- Christmas sales is with a gift card under the tree. According to Fram, clothing stores are among the most likely to have post-Christmas day sales. After all, spring clothes hit the racks soon after the new year starts.