As the seasons change, so does the climate in the retail world! Surely, you’ve noticed just about everything has changed at your favorite retailers from the end caps, to the decor. And rightfully so! September 1st – January 10th signify the largest percentage jump in revenue for most retailers world-wide. For consumers, the holiday shopping season come equal with both joy and stress. Tis the season, or wish you had missed the season; there is simply no way around it.
The holiday shopping season can be very stressful, depending on your strategy. The pressures of finding, obtaining and paying for gifts, decorations and accommodations can become over bearing. The average holiday shopper spends an estimated $800 on gifts and holiday related expenses each year. The best advice is to have a tangible goal and set parameters around your spending. Creating a holiday budget will keep you disciplined and reduce your stress level in the holiday shopping season by 50%.
Plan Early
The best plan is to start early. “How early, you may ask”? As a rule of thumb, take the month of January to strategize, and learn from the mistakes of the year that passed to come up with a complete game plan. The game plan you construct should be a comprehensive list of the who, the limits, and how to budget to meet your goals. By setting an early plan of action, you can manage your finances in correlation to your financial forecast for the year.
This can come in handy for those large purchases, or perhaps budget for the unexpected gifts or expenditures that are unforeseen.
Gift Exchanges
For workplace associates and large family groups, organizing a gift exchange will save you a significant amount of money. The process of selecting one person ushers in mystery, fun, and an all-inclusive feeling of completeness. I call it a win, win! Everyone receives a gift and it eliminates the pressures of buying everyone involved a gift. Remember, even gift exchanges should have monetary limits!
Holiday Shopping Fund
The age old guide to saving for the holiday shopping season is to start a safe plan of strategy that involves setting away a few dollars toward a fund. Every January, from churches to Facebook groups gather in hopes to establish a 52 week calendar savings fund to be used for the holiday season. Not a bad idea? By saving on a schedule, many are able to stash away money throughout the year towards a fund that can only be withdrawn in December. The idea of a small non-intimidating amount of money on schedule is look upon as an investment with significant benefits. The problem is, an estimated 75% fail to keep the commitment throughout the year. The holiday shopping fund method is only effective if followed through. The hosting institution can be a envelope under your bed, or your nearest credit union; nevertheless, it is a worthwhile investment. The extra money will definitely alleviate stress when the holiday season rolls around. In addition, some financial institutions have special accounts for holiday savings with high yields for short duration savings.
Shop the Block (Sales, Cyber Monday, Black Friday) – The Day After
Okay guys, are you ready for the holiday shopping secret? …….shhh, the answer to shopping smart is to monetize your cart! For this one, we will take a page out of the “Coupon Wars” playbook. By simply doing research online and taking advantage of sales is a sure fire way to save during the holiday shopping season. Hence, you made your holiday plan, created a mode of financial execution, the only element left is to take advantage of sales. Depending on the items on your gift list, just about any and everything has a sale season. For instance, as a rule of thumb, Black Friday is the best time to buy your big-ticket items. Another Black Friday perk is the end-cap frenzy. Retailers place ridiculous low prices on hot items and fast movers to entice you to the big piece of cheese. Take advantage, folks! On the other end of the spectrum, Cyber Monday is the best day of the year for anything tech. Contrary to belief, you can catch the same deals at the stores as you can online.
Post pandemic, retailers are thinking outside the box in its approach this holiday shopping season. Retailers such as The Children’s Place are taking an active approach by running amazing online sales on off-season items. As one of the World’s largest children clothes retailers, The Children’s Place always do an amazing job of making their apparel affordable at the holidays. Some retailers are planning on extending sale periods to rejuvenate the holiday shopping experience.
Early Bird Gets the Worm
Perhaps, like many this upcoming holiday shopping season, you’ve failed to plan or come up with a strategy. It’s not too late to make a remarkable recovery. Make a plan, set a budget, and start the daunting task of strategizing your shopping path. The task of setting a budget in the current state of the economy is hard enough, but just imagine the consequences if you go into the holiday shopping season blind. Sticking to a budget during the holidays is already hard enough, but if you wait until the last minute to start shopping, you run the risk of having to pay extra for expedited shipping and getting stuck with buying super pricey items just so you have a gift to give.
Just remember, the holiday shopping season is officially here.
