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Black Friday isn’t the only time you can find deals on holiday gifts. Take a look at four ways to capitalize on low prices right now.
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So Black Friday wasn’t the savings treasure trove you were hoping for. It’s a bummer, but it happens. That doesn’t mean you’re doomed to pay full price for everything still left on your shopping list. There are still plenty of deals around; you just have to know how to find them.
Here are four tips that can help you snag great last-minute prices before the holidays.
1. Keep watching for sales
The biggest holiday sales might be behind us, but Black Friday and Cyber Monday don’t spell the end of great deals. There are plenty of retailers who continue to offer discounts on their products through the end of the year, especially if they didn’t sell as much on Black Friday as they’d hoped.
Keep an eye on your favorite retailers and consider subscribing to their email lists if you’re not already. That way, you’ll know about upcoming deals and sales right away and you can act quickly.
2. Use price tracking apps
Price tracking apps, like Keepa, can help you track products on popular items over time. These apps can also access historical price data to clue you into potential upcoming price drops.
These tools are pretty simple to use. You look up the product you want and add it to your account. Some even enable you to import wishlists from popular sites like Amazon. Then, they’ll keep watching those items for you and send you notifications if the price drops. This could save you a lot of time compared to manually checking prices day after day.
3. Use credit card rewards
Using your hard-earned credit card rewards points to pay for holiday gifts might not be as appealing as finding a great savings deal. But it could still help reduce your out-of-pocket costs this holiday season.
There are two ways you could go about this: You could apply your unused rewards points to your credit card balance to reduce next month’s bill. Or you could use your rewards to purchase gift cards to popular retail stores. Then, you can use those gift cards to buy items for loved ones on your holiday shopping list, or you could give them as gifts directly.
4. Watch the clearance racks
Retailers sometimes find themselves with a surplus of items if they weren’t able to sell as much as they’d hoped during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Eventually, this becomes a problem because they want to make space in their stores for new items coming in. This is especially true for places like clothing stores, where the products sold are seasonal.
As stores gear up for new arrivals, leftover goods often get sent over to the clearance rack where you can pick them up for cheap. It doesn’t hurt to check a store’s clearance area as the holidays get closer to see if any of those things you were eyeing on Black Friday start to show up there.
It’s never easy to predict whether a better price will come up between now and the holidays, but there’s still time to wait and see. Give it a few weeks and then, if you still haven’t found a price that fits your budget, you’ll have to make a decision: Either pay full price or look for something else.
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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Kailey Hagen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
