With Black Friday quickly approaching some people have already mapped out their shopping battle plan, and packed their tents to camp out in front of stores days in advanced. For those of us who still enjoy a nice Thanksgiving celebration with friends and family, waiting for days on end just to save a couple hundred dollars is not exactly ideal. The best way to find great holiday deals while still being able to enjoy the actual holiday is to take advantage of Cyber Monday deals. In recent years, Cyber Monday has become the largest online shopping day in America. So, what exactly is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday falls on the Monday after Thanksgiving. What started with just a few online retailers trying to capture some of the Black Friday dollars being thrown around by the masses has grown into an incredible opportunity to save money without leaving the comfort of your home. Today, almost every retailer with an online presence offers deals to rival those of Black Friday. Historically, big ticket tech items are usually the focus of Black Friday sales; this is when many TVs, stereos and other electronics sell for the lowest prices of the year. Apple is notorious for only offering markdowns on their products on Black Friday. Cyber Monday, however, often offers an increased markdown on store-wide categories of up to 10%, meaning that if a product or category is offered at a 30% discount on Black Friday, it will be marked down by 40% on Cyber Monday.
Not everybody can know about these drastic savings, which means that Cyber Monday deals are often not advertised. The lack of knowledge as to what is going to be on sale can be a real issue for some shoppers, but there are a couple of ways to see what deals may be around the corner. By keeping an eye on websites that post previews and compiling a list of the best deals for yourself, you can get a leg up on other shoppers. Theblackfriday.com is a basic but useful site that shows advertised deals based on where they are sold, or by the product category. Techradar.com puts together a list of the best deals from trusted retailers each year, and is a great resource for those looking to save on the latest gadgets. If you already know what you are looking to purchase, search Google for the item and select the ‘shopping’ tab of results; the ‘shopping’ tab offers a quick pricing overview so that you can spot the best deal on the internet.
Being able to stay at home and still save as much, or even more, than those who fight through the Black Friday crowds makes for a much more relaxing shopping experience. Many products that are discounted on Cyber Monday will sell out, so if you see a great price on an item you have been looking for, do not hesitate to pull the trigger. Projections show that 76% if the season’s spending will go towards only 1% of products, so be wary of competition. The top selling categories on Cyber Monday are toys, electronics, and gift cards; this year is no different. The hottest items of 2015 are predicted to be the Sphero BB8 Star Wars toy, the Apple Watch, and the newest version of Roku streaming media players.
To ensure you are getting the absolute best price, pay attention to the added cost of shipping before finalizing your purchase. It is quite common for sites to offer free shipping coupon codes on Cyber Monday. Also keep an eye out for site-to-store shipping options when buying online from a retailer with a physical location near you. Lastly, be sure to search for coupon codes before completing your purchase so you can stack on savings or snag free shipping. If you are not sure where to start your coupon search, the Nerds recommend RetailMeNot.com or CouponCabin.com. Both sites are full of coupon codes, and chances are at least one will work for your Cyber Monday purchase if you are buying from a popular retailer.
For more tech tips, hacks, and advice be sure to like Nerds on Call’s Facebook page so that our latest blog posts appear directly in your news feed!
About The Author: Andrea Eldridge is CEO and co-founder of Nerds On Call, a computer repair company that specializes in on-site and online service for homes and businesses. Andrea is the writer of a weekly column, Nerd Chick Adventures in The Record Searchlight. She prepares TV segments for and appears regularly on CBS, CW and FOX on shows such as Good Day Sacramento, More Good Day Portland, and CBS 13 News, offering viewers technology and lifestyle tips. See Andrea in action at callnerds.com/andrea/.
Video Transcript
Ken: Courtney’s standing by with our friends from Nerds On Call with more. Hey, Court.
Courtney: Yes, Ryan Eldridge is here. Nerds are in the building because it’s time for Cyber Monday.
Ryan: Yes, there’s nothing a nerd likes better than buying stuff on Cyber Monday because all kinds of great deals on tech and all kinds of other stuff. So one of the things about Cyber Monday is, it was sort of invented for the online retailers, you know, Amazon and Dell and Newegg. They couldn’t get any of the good Black Friday dollars, so they created Cyber Monday. Well, now it’s turned into like a week-long event, and today is really awesome because it’s almost always tech related. I mean, you can get things like clothes and jackets, but who needs any of that stuff? This is a great day.
Courtney: I want my smart TV.
Ryan: Yes, lots of good deals on TVs, which is weird because Black Friday is usually the TV day, but today, wow! We’re seeing some really good deals.
Courtney: This is the big day. Okay.
Ryan: So let’s talk about how to own Cyber Monday, like a nerd. So the first thing you want to do is, you want to go to places where you’re going to get a bunch of deals all in one place, rather than going from one site to another. This is called theblackfriday.com/cybermonday, and here, they put a ton of great places, so you can just say, “Well, I just want to see what Target’s got on sale there. I just want to see what Kohl’s has today.” And it will give you some of the best stuff deals.
Courtney: Okay.
Ryan: Or you can go to one of my favorite places. This is called TechRadar, and TechRadar not only shows you the deals and the codes that you can use, but also the different stores and ways that you can save by stacking a couple of extra coupons.
Courtney: Nice.
Ryan: All kinds of really great stuff, plus little articles on how to get the best deal, like Fallout 4. You can get the new Fallout 4 with a bundle today with the Xbox. You can get it for $299 in some places. So check out techradar.com for that.
Courtney: So you mentioned coupon stacking.
Ryan: Yes, now this is what you want to do. I know coupon stacking is kind of a hot thing, especially here at Good Day, so go to retailmenot.com. Not only will you get a good deal when you go to the website, but as soon as you check out, before you check out, check out the coupon codes. Jump over to retailmenot.com, get an extra coupon code. It can save you an extra 15%, sometimes even 30% off.
Courtney: Nice. On top of what you’re already saving.
Ryan: CouponCabin is another great place to go. If your RetailMeNot…if you don’t get quite the deal you want, go to couponcabin.com, check them out. You can stack those. You get free shipping and all kinds of other great deals.
Courtney: Okay.
Ryan: So one of the things about Cyber Monday is, today is awesome. Target just came back up. It was down forever.
Courtney: Target! Because a minute…just, like, two minutes ago you couldn’t get in there.
Ryan: I pulled it up because I wanted to show everybody that it went down. Target is kind of owning today.
Courtney: Yeah.
Ryan: Fifteen percent off over everything in the store.
Courtney: Hoo-hoo!
Ryan: I know, and then you can get free shipping online, plus free shipping in returns.
Courtney: Nice.
Ryan: It’s a really great thing. Plus, you can get awesome deals on some of their TVs and stuff. There’s only a couple, like Samsung and Vizio aren’t participating.
Courtney: Okay.
Ryan: But Apple products are super-hot this year, especially the Apple Watch. You can’t get those anywhere on discount. Target’s got them on discount.
Courtney: I see. Awesome.
Ryan: So check that out. And then of course, if you want to go to a great website to check out all the deals that are…it’s live updated, go to gizmodo.com/cybermonday. Here, they’ve got live updates constantly of all the new things.
Courtney: Talk deals.
Ryan: And if you’re a Twitter fan, follow them right there at…I can’t even pronounce that.
Courtney: Kinja Deals.
Ryan: All of them, and you’ll see the live updates as they’re coming up, because the thing about Amazon and a lot of these places, they’re adding deals constantly to keep you coming back to the website.
Courtney: They want you to keep coming back. Well, we’re going to link all of that information to our website, gooddaysacramento.com. You know, Nerds On Call always has a good…the best insight, especially when it’s time to spend your money online.
