(NEXSTAR) – If you’re looking for an excuse to be late on gift-giving this year, here’s one: Some purchases may be cheaper if you wait another month.
Though retailers offer discounts on toys, tech and other easy-to-gift items, some of the better deals are to be found after the peak holiday shopping season ends. The items soon-to-be on sale fall into two big categories: things no longer in demand, and things high in demand, Jacob Palmer, senior director of content operations at BestReviews, explained. (BestReviews, a testing and product review site, is owned by Nexstar, which also owns The Hill.)
The first category — things no longer in demand — is a bit more obvious. Christmas decorations, pre-assembled gift sets, and anything else tied to the holidays are first to go on sale.
Older models of technology and appliances can also be found at a discount in January as retailers look to make space for 2023 models.
Later into the winter and in early spring, coats and other winter clothing also go on deep discount.
With these items, there’s a catch, according to Palmer.
“The trade off is that you’re buying a year-old model and the requirement is that you need to have the space to house it,” Palmer said. “So if you’re living in San Francisco and real estate is a premium, you’re paying a lot more to house something over an offseason than you would if you were living in a sprawling place in the Midwest where you have basement space upon basement space to store whatever you ended up buying.”
If space isn’t an issue and you don’t need the latest and greatest gear, then take advantage of those January discounts, Palmer said.
In additional to off-season shopping, there’s another category of goods that often gets big price cuts: As many people commit to exercise as a New Year’s resolution, workout equipment and workout clothing is often competitively priced.
“It’s really top of mind for people, and sellers in that space get very aggressive in terms of competing with each other to get the bigger volume of sales,” Palmer said.
We’re also still seeing the effects of last year’s major supply chain issues. When manufacturers found their goods were tied up in shipping delays or stuck in cargo containers, many ramped up production to close the gap. A year later, we’ve found ourselves with a lot of extra product, explains Palmer.
“Especially in areas like fashion and apparel, what I’m hearing from people is that inventory is high and sale volume is low,” Palmer said. “So what that means is that there’s eventually going to be more deals.”
How do you know if something is really a good deal? Palmer said BestReviews typically considers a 20% to 30% discount as substantial. For bigger-ticket items, like something that costs $1,000, even an 8% to 10% discount is worth taking advantage of.
