How To Beat The Scourge of Black Friday
Here is the best piece of advice I can give you for avoiding the chaos and stress of Black Friday. Don’t leave home! Choose to do all your shopping on the internet.
But, if you want to take the risk and choose to plunge headlong into the fray, do your homework and follow these three strategies.
- Keep in mind that if the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Merchants will say and do almost anything legal to get you in the store and hook you to purchase. So, if the sale shouts out “60-70% off!” ask specifically if it refers to the item you want. If you get sucked in by the fishhook of “Going out of Business” sale, compare the prices with other stores.
- Always ask for a gift receipt. Make the potential return process easy for yourself and others and ask about the shipping and refund policies.
- Make a list of the stores you will visit. You have only a limited amount of time and energy. Planning your travel roadmap in advance will save you valuable time and cut down your stress by giving you control.
However, if you take my advice and stay home and shop, keep in mind that online deals are far, far more plentiful and often less expensive than you will find in the physical space of a store. Here are a couple of tips I hope will persuade you to have fun shopping online and mute your Black Friday stress.
- Start shopping on Thanksgiving Day and beat the big viral crowd. If not, start your shopping VERY early on Friday. The discounted items are meant to reel you in and are often in short supply. And, you can cover a lot more territory via the Internet than you can possibly do by physically going to the store. Here, the early bird really does get the worm.
- Before purchasing any product, go to your favorite search engine and find out where else you can find the same product and at what discounted price. You can do this in less than five minutes. The five most popular shopping comparison sites are: Google Shopping, Nextag, PriceGrabber, Shopping.com and Shopzilla.
That’s it. Follow these suggestions and beat the scourge of Black Friday stress.
James Mapes is a keynote speaker, best-selling author, coach and hypnotist. His most recent book IMAGINE THAT! Igniting Your Brain for Creativity and Peak Performance is the first web-supported book with access to 21 video-coaching clips.
IMAGINE THAT!
James Mapes is the founder of Quantum Leap Thinking™, creator of The Transformational Coach™, expert on the psychology of “applied imagination,” best-selling author, highly acclaimed business speaker, consultant, seminar leader and personal excellence coach.