Ah Black Friday… the smell of peppermint candy canes, 50% off perfume, and sweat of 800 people crammed into a 20×20 store room.
In the most recent issue Wired offers hacks to holiday shopping, including plans for Black Friday, utilizing technology and proper strategizing.
How to Hack the Holidays and Score the Best Deals Online
Article teaser:
Clean your cookies. Retailers base a lot of their online promotions and price points on shoppers’ habits. So, it’s not uncommon for shoppers to notice price fluctuations after repeated purchases on the same site. Prices typically drop for these power shoppers as an incentive, but there have been documented occurrences of increases, too. You can check to see if this is happening to you by logging out from the retail site, clearing your browser’s cookies, and then revisiting the product page. If you find a lower price, buy it — re-registering with a new customer account if necessary.
Go ahead, get a jump on the Jones-es.
And Remember: Find gifts for everyone, even your boss who “donated” your Christmas bonus…
Edit: On a serious note, be careful and considerate out there. You wouldn’t want this to happen to your grandmother…
November 15, 2007 at 5:25 am
Ugh…I have a love/hate relationship with shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Love the sales, hate the crowded stores. I definitely don’t do the whole 5am thing, but I do like to look through the picked over stuff later on.
November 30, 2007 at 1:43 am
My question is: Is it really that serious? I mean, of course I would never want that to happen to my grandmother or anyone else for that matter. I have never been out shopping on black friday, so maybe there are some really unbelievably great deals that one just can’t pass up, I don’t know. That’s just something my family never really got into. I tell ya, I am grateful for the option of online shopping. More people should do it and avoid scenes like that one. This may already be the case, but stores should offer the same discounts for black friday on their store websites. I never really shopped online much because the whole credit card info thing still kind of freaks me out but for future reference, I see that I need to pay attention to how much I am paying. Many people think that they are getting great deals online but in actuality they are getting ripped off. So just as the online retailers pay close attention to shopper habits, we need to pay even closer attention to price fluctuations so that we don’t break the bank unnecessarily.