These are the best days of the year to shop for holiday deals on electronics
Some types of consumer electronics are already discounted more than a month before Christmas Day, but retailers are expected to offer the hottest deals of the year during the traditional price reduction window between Black Friday and on Cyber Monday.
Through November 16, shoppers can get 10% to 20% off TVs, video game consoles, computers and other tech gear, according to Adobe Digital Insights. This allows consumers to do their holiday shopping while saving money.
“It’s a good time for consumers,” Vivek Pandya, head of Adobe Digital Insights, told CBS MoneyWatch.
But consumers will have to weigh what’s more important: getting the best deal or making sure they’re getting exactly the tech product they want.
“What they negotiate is to wait for the best discounts between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, or try to get some of these items before they sell out,” Pandya said.
When to find maximum discounts
For shoppers looking for the biggest savings, it might pay to wait until after “Cyber Five,” the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, to purchase products like televisions and audio systems. Other electronic devices will be discounted up to 30% on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe.
For TVs, look for discounts during Black Friday, which this year falls on November 24. The best day to buy computer deals will be Saturday, November 25, according to Pandya.
But retailers are nimble and if they don’t release enough inventory during this period, they can also introduce surprise discounts on other dates.
“There are going to be times of competition for discounts throughout the season,” he noted.
After Cyber Monday on November 27, discounts are expected to weaken but will remain up to 16%, according to Adobe.
Melissa Tatoris, vice president of retail at Zeta Global, also expects the best electronics deals to arrive on Cyber Monday, although shoppers could still find deep discounts later in the season.
“Retailers will be flexible if they have to go further over the holidays because they haven’t cleared inventory,” she told CBS MoneyWatch.
After Christmas, retailers typically reduce any remaining seasonal inventory.
In years past, the best day of the year to score electronics deals usually fell after Christmas December 27. But retailers aren’t expected to have much excess inventory this year.
“The risk of waiting until after Christmas is that this is usually when retailers reduce additional seasonal inventory. However, this year, retailers are reporting that they are doing a better job of forecasting and that their supply chains are in better shape,” Deloitte Brian McCarthy, director of retail strategy, told CBS MoneyWatch.
“As a consumer, I could take a chance on getting a good deal after Christmas, but I might not have much choice,” he said.
