I'm trying to plan ahead for the holidays this year. Last year I missed out on some good deals because I wasn't checking the right websites early enough. Are there any retailers that usually start dropping their Black Friday prices in October, or should I wait until November?
Retailers are definitely pushing deals earlier each year, so setting price alerts by late September gives you a real edge. I got burned a couple years back waiting for "real" Black Friday and found the TV I wanted had already sold out at the low price, even though the sticker price stayed the same through November.
Most big retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart start running early Black Friday promotions in October now, so you'll want to have price-tracking tools or browser extensions set up by then to catch the deals before they're gone. Sign up for their email lists too - they usually tip off subscribers a few days before the official sales go live, which gives you a head start.
Don't wait for November thinking you'll get better deals - that's the trap. By actual Black Friday week, a lot of the really good stuff is already picked over or the prices haven't moved much from October anyway. The real game is starting your searches in late September, before retailers even officially kick off their "early" sales.
Price tracking tools are solid, but here's what people miss: sign up for retailer newsletters and follow their social media accounts directly. A lot of stores drop flash sales or doorbusters on their own channels first, and you'll catch those notifications before they hit the aggregator sites. Also check if any stores you shop at regularly have loyalty programs - some give members early access to deals, sometimes even a few days before the public stuff goes live.
One more thing that saved me last year: keep a wishlist going throughout the year on whatever site you're buying from. That way when October rolls around and prices start shifting, you can actually see what's a real discount versus something they marked up beforehand and then "reduced." It's easier to spot when you've got the original price right there instead of trying to remember what something cost months ago.
I've found that October is definitely when the deals start rolling, though the real trick is following specific product categories rather than just browsing general sales pages. Set up price alerts on individual items you're actually interested in buying - most retailers let you do this directly on their sites, and you'll get notified the moment something drops instead of constantly refreshing. The other thing most people miss is checking out the clearance sections of physical stores in late September and early October; retailers often need shelf space before the big promotional push, so that's where some surprisingly good deals hide before they even hit the websites.
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