Holiday shopping: What you should buy now, what you should wait on for the best deals

The holiday shopping season is here and so are the holiday deals.

Many retailers are already rolling out Black Friday deals and it can be a lot to navigate.

News Center 7′s Consumer Reporter Xavier Hershovitz found out what you should buy now and what you should wait on for the best deal.

Walking through the store you can already see some Black Friday deals, but online there are even more.

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Retailers are launching pre-Black Friday deals, starting in October, so this has been a pattern for a few years.

Kristin McGrath, an editor with the online deals website RetailMeNot.

She says these early deals really took off during the pandemic— so retailers have leaned into them.

“The early Black Friday, chaos can be really confusing for shoppers, because they want to know, should I wait till Black Friday, should I buy this stuff now who has the best deal,” McGrath said.

To navigate all the deals, McGrath said you need to embrace the chaos.

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“You can totally take advantage of these new sales and get something at a good price,” McGrath said.

Some things to buy now include beauty products, clothes, and any popular items that may sell out fast.

“Like if you want a toy for your kid that is popular, and that might sell out during Black Friday weekend, you might want to pick it up now, especially if it’s on sale,” McGrath said.

If you don’t need something specific, you can wait until Black Friday for electronics like TVs or laptops and even toys. Retailers hate having toys left on their shelves after the holidays.

“They really offer a lot of BOGOs and you know, straight 25% off or even more on toys just to get them off their shelves and then they start to sell out,” McGrath said.

One thing that’s a little different during holiday shopping is price match policies.

“They will sometimes remove anything that’s considered a Black Friday or Cyber Weekend deal from that price-matching policy and be a little more picky,” McGrath said.

Return policies are very generous for the holidays, so if you buy something that ends up getting cheaper later you can return that item and then rebuy it at that lower price.

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