In today's digital age, the lines between Black Friday and Cyber Monday are increasingly blurred. Trae Bodge, Smart Shopping Expert at TrueTrae, joined TheStreet to discuss which holiday offers better deals for shoppers.
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Full Video Transcript Below:
CONWAY GITTENS: So in today's digital age, is there much of a difference between the deals we see on Black Friday versus Cyber Monday.
TRAE BODGE: This is such a good question. So here's how I look at Black Friday versus Cyber Monday. So Black Friday started out as an in-store only day. It's obviously an online day as well. But the way I look at it is that the deals on Black Friday tend to be more specific, a bit more narrow. Maybe it's one kind of TV. For example, on Cyber Monday, the deals tend to broaden, so you may see multiple deals across one brand of TV. So you have a little bit more option, a little more choice as well. And so you have some flexibility on Cyber Monday. And then the other thing about Cyber Monday, if a retailer happens to have some flexibility, if they don't have a great Black Friday, they could perhaps increase those discounts for Cyber Monday. So sometimes the deals tend to be a little bit better on Cyber Monday.
CONWAY GITTENS: That was my next question because in this whole entire season, looking past Cyber Monday and Black Friday, where do you expect the biggest and best deals when you take a look at online versus in store. And I'm curious as to know which is leading, which are the deals leading the consumer, where to shop, or is the consumer leading the retailer where to put the best deals.
TRAE BODGE: So I think it's a little bit of both. Retailers have these plans that they've had in place for many months. This is part of their big season. And so in that way the retailer is guiding things. But some retailers, especially smaller retailers, can pivot a little bit. On Cyber Monday and offer that deeper discount. Now, in terms of retailers who sell both online and in store, we tend to see that those deals are comparable across the board. Retailers are trying to create what they call an omnichannel experience for the consumer, so you can shop in whatever way you want. I would say one thing about Black Friday, though, is because you often see these very quick lightening deals or doorbuster deals that come and go. The inventory is fairly low, so I think you can do better on Black Friday if you are in store to snap up that item before someone else. And so that to me would be the difference. But really, if you don't like those crowds, you could certainly just kick back in your PJs and and shop online.
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CONWAY GITTENS: Now sticking with this idea between online and in store this year, there are fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So how does that impact one's shopping strategy or decision, whether to buy online or to get up off the couch and go into the store
TRAE BODGE: Yeah, and to your point, we have fewer shopping days. And so what I expect is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be very strong because people don't have as much time to shop. But thankfully it is easy to get many items quite quickly. If you're shopping on a site like Amazon, for example, they ship very quickly in a couple of days, and then there are services like Instacart, for example. You can kick back in your PJs and send an Instagram shopper out there to do your shopping and have those items delivered the same day. And Instacart has a really cool feature called the express pass, which means that the minimums for getting free shipping and same day shipping are much lower during the holiday shopping season, so that's another option. If you don't want to go into the stores, you can send a shopper, an Instacart shopper in there for you.
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