MINNEAPOLIS — It’s deals, on deals, on deals season but not every sale is worth it.
“If you’re a consumer, my advice to you is you’re going to find a lot of sales, going to find a lot of deals, but don’t pay attention to the deals, just make sure you know how much they actually want to charge you,” said University of Minnesota Marketing Professor George John.
John said it’s easy to swipe your card during the holiday season.
“It’s awfully tempting to get into money trouble this time of the year,” he said.
A 2024 WalletHub survey showed 50% of Americans are still paying off their debt from shopping during the holidays last year. This survey came out just a couple of weeks after the National Retail Federation predicted record spending this holiday season.
“These records are a little deceptive. They always tell you, the record in terms of nominal dollars but once you adjust for inflation, it’s not some kind of rip-roaring economy. We’re going to be a couple of percentage points above the inflation rate,” he said.
John said there really isn’t an “it” item this year, but he expects stores to be busy.
“What that means is you’re going to see a lot of deals, but they vary so much that you have to be really disciplined to make sure it’s a good deal for you,” John said. “I think you will see crowds in the store whether they’ll buy and what they’ll buy is a bit of mystery.”
He said there has been a shift in spending. He said people aren’t buying as many cars and houses as they were in 2019.
“We have to ask if you don’t have the money to buy a house, and you don’t have the money to buy a car, or want to buy a car, what are you going to do with that money, so that’s sort of the question this year,” he said.
Another trend he is starting to see is the merger of online and offline shopping.
“The way we shop today, online and offline are kind of merged, they’re complimentary. You may check out stuff online and then drive to the store and pick it up,” he said. “It’s a bit of mistake to think of offline and online as two separate entities and the companies that do it well are merging the two. It’s a hard thing to do but that’s the trend.”
He said the rise of online shopping makes it easier for consumers to purchase items, but it also makes it easier for merchants to market to you.
“It’s a mixed blessing. On the one hand online shopping is so convenient and you can shop at your leisure and all of that. The downside is you’re giving them all the information about you and that is really the most valuable thing about online shopping to the merchant,” he said. “When we shop online, we’re basically telling the retailer everything about us.”
He said retailers and sellers have gotten so good at leveraging people’s own weaknesses, which is why people easily go into debt.
“So, why are we such suckers for sales? Because if I believe that normal prices is $10 and they tell me it’s 20% off sounds great to me, but it’s only because they’ve led us to believe the original price is $10,” he said. “We are terrible at calculating what something costs.”
John said even though you put an item in your cart, but don’t buy it, retailers are still learning about you. He said the best thing you can do is conduct your research online and then go to the store and buy it.
He said you’ll see a lot of deals this holiday season, and if it’s a good sale to you, then you should get the item. However, what’s a good deal to you might not be a good deal to someone else.