The last call for bargains in November is this Monday. As every year, the shopping rush peaks on Black Friday in the following days, when Cyber Monday is triggered. Born in 2005 as a marketing insight by Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation to push people towards shopping for electronic goods, the last Monday in November is the end of the large window of promotions scheduled since the beginning of the month, both online and in physical shops. In practice, it is a continuation of the post-Thanksgiving Friday in the US. However, almost all electronics retailers reserve exclusive offers for the day, which almost always trigger at midnight on Monday.
Although preceded in temporal order by weeks of markdowns, it has already happened more than once in the past that Cyber Monday has turned out to be the most profitable day for digital stores, precisely because, unlike Black Friday, it is an event dedicated exclusively to online shopping, where it goes without saying that the most popular sales concern smartphones, TVs and laptops. The record takings are also due to the proximity of Christmas and the possibility of saving a lot of money for presents.
What to do before buying
Having said that, it is rare to find better deals on Cyber Monday compared to Black Friday; the first move to make the best of the hundreds of offers you will come across in your online searches is to draw up a wishlist, which is useful to narrow down the field to the items you are interested in and within your budget. Before proceeding to purchase a possible product, it is useful to do targeted research by taking advantage of price trackers such as Keepa, which allow you to find out how the cost of an item for sale on Amazon has evolved over the last few months.
In addition to the world’s leading buying and selling site, which from next year will also start selling new cars thanks to the agreement signed with Hyundai, the list of sites not to be missed includes eBay, MediaMarkt, Saturn, Unieuro, Expert, Boulanger, Argos and Darty. The global spread of the initiative and its extension with more than ten days of promotions convinced the hi-tech brands themselves to plan a long series of discounts on their respective websites.
This means that those looking for a TV or a computer, but also a washing machine, an oven or an electric broom must necessarily take a look at Samsung, Philips, Haier, LG, Sony, Hoover and the other companies in the sector to discover the cheapest offer in line with their needs.
4 apps that help you find the right offers
There are other apps to keep an eye on to stay informed about bargains to grab and receive alerts when a promotion is activated on an item of interest. Here, we list four, each with an element to characterise them. Both during Cyber Monday and the rest of the year, DealNews is always a reference point for good deals, as it offers a large catalogue with discounts updated day after day.
Another useful address is Slickdeals, which exploits the popularity and skills of users, who share and vote on the best deals here. Coupons and especially the geolocation function to alert you of products on sale when you are near a shop is Shopular‘s strong point.
Also worth seeing is Chollometro, which is very popular in Spain because it has a large community of users who provide offers and suggestions and allow you to receive alerts on promotions in line with your profile. For the Spanish, it is a social network of bargains available for both iOS and Android.
