Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday?

When I was growing up Black Friday was the official start of the holiday season. Of course, that was when 8-track tapes were the height of music technology and computers were villains in science fiction movies. A lot has changed since then. While Black Friday remains a pivotal point in holiday mercantilism, it is no longer the start of the season. Christmas decorations now arrive in stores with Halloween candy, and holiday sales start showing up in November. As such Black Friday with all of its loss leader sales is more of a bellwether to gauge the economic trends of the holiday season. Indeed, the major trend of the last few years has been the growth of online retail, with its own supposed high volume day – Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, when online shoppers take to the Web en masse to snap up the latest bargains. Both economic holidays offer sales and different level of excitement.

So are you a brick and mortar Black Friday Shopper or do you sit in front of your computer on Cyber Monday with a cup of coffee and the last of the stuffing? Which day do you believe offers the best deals?

 

I'm not sure which offers better deals, if memory serves me I normally buy more on Black Friday. With that said I sit in front of the computer to shop on both days.

There is a huge outlet mall about 10 minutes from my house off a major expressway. On Thanksgiving night traffic gets backed up on that express way because of that mall. I would not want to subject myself to such craziness. lol

 

I'm about 80% cyber shopper myself, but not necessarily on Cyber Monday. Usually I shop as I get lists and requests from family members.

 

This year I don't think I'll be doing either, unless brick and mortar stores are still selling cheap hard drives. I had an automated backup fail yesterday due to running out of space.

 

I'm definitely in the Cyber Monday camp. I've had a few experiences with Black Friday myself, and it terrifies me. I'm a pretty aggressive person, but physically harming someone so I can save a few bucks on a computer isn't my idea of a good time. Frugal online shopping the rest of the year more than makes up for Black Friday for me.

 

problem is, if you wait till monday, all the good stuff is gone

 

I used to go camp out in the Fry's parking lot with a few other techies. We'd set up a tent with PS3 games, food, etc...It used to be fun, but now it's kind of a hassle as the deals at the B&M are the same deals on-line...

 

I've never been to a Black Friday in the past 17 years of my life. I usually only buy things when I need them, which is few and far between. I will be going to Black Friday this year since my family will be doing so, but I'm not looking forward to the craziness. The only reason why I'll tolerate it this year is because my family will be paying for it. >.>

 

I prefer cyber Monday shopping but find there are good deals to be made in actually going to physical stores.

Either way if you shop around deals on there to be made bearing you actually need the item or its a gift.

 

I have a question though, if you do buy stuff online are there deals better on monday than black friday? Because lenovo x220 is having a sale only $719.20 basic config, but the deal expires on sunday 11/27. I was wondering would a better deal come out for cyber monday? Also, the question goes for all other stuff im buying online (keyboard/monitor/Jeans Lol) since all these purchases are online, do you guys expect better deals on monday than today from your experience? Thanks!

 

Sales are just like the stock market: you don't know if the price will go up or down, and you don't know when deals will pop up in the first place.

Unless you can see in the future (or do insider trading), of course .

If you're happy with the $719, take it.

 

The 719 for the X220 is pretty low. Cant see it going much lower than that honestly.

As for other items (jeans for example) the deals are hit and miss. Using the jeans example again Lucky brand had some good deals last night that were hard to pass up (40 dollars or less a pair).

Just keep a lookout for the items you need.