How to Shop for Black Friday. 🎈

TIPS TO PLAN AHEAD AND GET THE BIGGEST BARGAINS.

It’s that time of the year again. Black Friday & The Holidays are around the corner, and the shopping deals are a dime a dozen. Or at least they seem to be. That my friends means more money in your pocket. But walking away with the sweetest bargains, and most bang for your buck, actually takes quite a bit of planning, strategy, and a few other hacks I’d like to share with you all today. So let’s jump right into it. 

1. Make a List

The first rule of thumb is to make a list. No matter how small. What are you shopping for? Who are you shopping for? Are we treating ourselves, other relatives, or are we making a purchase the whole family can enjoy? For instance a new TV, furniture, or much needed appliance upgrades. Creating a list not only helps keep you honest, but most importantly, it ensures you won’t miss out on the biggest savings possible, OR that special item you’ve had your eyes on for ages. It’s also probably a good idea to fit in as many items you are willing to spend on, because deals move at blazing speeds. And depending on what you’ve got your eyes set on, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to secure it. So save a little wiggle room for missed deals. And if you’re not in the market for anything specifically, hey that’s perfectly fine. No item list needed. But it still might be a good idea to make a list of your favorite stores, or websites you love to shop with. You just might land something nice.

2.  What makes a good deal?

Don’t be fooled into thinking everything will be a steal. Yes, there’ll be huge sale signs across stores, shopping malls, and your favorite websites (hopefully we’ve made that list 😉). However, the second course of action is to document the pre-Black Friday prices, of ‘ALL’ the items on your list. Many stores, specifically electronics and appliances, are notorious for raising prices during BFCM (Black Friday + Cyber Monday) and creating fictitious mark downs for their customers. And in those cases, you aren’t really getting a deal brother 🥹. Now that we’ve noted the pre-Black Friday prices for the items on our wish list, it’s important to consider what’s a tempting enough bargain, that warrants pulling the trigger. And to be honest, that’s a personal question. Each of us has a different requirement of what it takes to part with our money. But I’ll give you my take.

As a former number cruncher, if we’re talking serious deals, then it’s all about pricing. The higher the purchase price, the bigger the savings. The same goes for higher discounts too, however, larger priced items create more savings than higher discounts alone. But let’s test it out. Assume you spent $100 on a 20% OFF BFCM discount. You’d save $20. Nice. But now assume you spent $1,000 at the same discount tier, you’d save $200. If we can agree, deal savings in general and especially on BFCM, is all about stretching your dollars and making them go far. It’s also important to note, that most of us don’t quite have endless pockets. And this is exactly why ‘strategically’ shopping during BFCM, can be a huge game changer. Alongside your shopping list and documented prices, make an estimated budget of how much you’re willing to spend in aggregate. Then set a minimum discount tier that you’ll be happy with. For example 15%, 20%, 25% or higher. Typically, I’d consider anything in the 15%-25% range as a pretty sweet deal.

3. Prioritize your List

Needs over wants. That’s the golden rule here. It’s certainly a good idea to prioritize any life expenses like major home goods, appliances, or electronics that happen to be need based. Thankfully, deals are plentiful in this arena. Next comes anything on your wish list, or holiday shopping for family and friends. And prioritizing those items will either come down to how big the deals are, OR how much you love a specific item. It’s a matter of preference really.

I tend to live by the saying, ‘Quality over Quantity’. So items I really believe I can’t live without, will always take precedence over any hefty price slash. Another way to spin it is to…consider if the item is a repeat use item v. one time use item. In other words, how many days in a week or month would you get good use of this item? Whether it’s gym equipment, clothing items, or electronic gadgets, the higher the usage, the higher of a priority it should be.

4. The Wrap-Up 

Now that you have a prioritized BFCM shopping list, a list of stores, pre-black Friday prices, a budget, and a desired discount tier, it’s time to sit back and watch the deals unfold. Don’t take my word for it, but I predict this will be a big year to score some MAJOR savings. In the meantime, feel free to check out the Karma browser extension. It’s a great tool to create shopping lists, track price comparisons across different stores, automatically find coupons, get price reduction alerts, and uncover some of the best deals on the market. Especially for items like tech products, which are usually carried by multiple store channels. I know this may be a lot to remember, so here’s a quick summary. 

+ Step 1 - Make a list.

+ Step 2 - Define a Good Deal.

+ Step 3 - Prioritize your List.

+ Step 4 - Compare Deals & Prices.

5. Black Friday @ S-Gents

It’s been a great year writing, and creating for all you wonderful Gentlemen, and Ladies as well. And what better way to say thank you, than to give all our cherished subscribers FIRST ACCESS and a head start on our Black Friday savings. From today through Sunday November 19th, get first dibs on our BFCM shopping with 25% OFF all store items using coupon code ‘BlackFriday23’. The good stuff will vanish at lightning speed, once our store wide Black Friday Deals go live publicly next week. And unfortunately, there will be no restocks within the season, so I and the rest of the gang would hate for you to miss out. I hope you all have enjoyed this read, and better yet, I hope you score some wonderful deals during your holiday shopping. You Gents & Belles work extremely hard, and are upstanding citizens. You certainly deserve it.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Fola

Creative Director,

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^{A FEW HOLIDAY PICKS}