What’s the Holiday Shopping Season Looking Like?

Gosh, seriously, I feel like all I do lately is provide the latest gloom and doom financial news that permeates the media by the dozens these days, but I guess I have to still report the facts as I see them at least, right? Well, it’s no secret at this point that this holiday shopping season is not shaping up to be the greatest news. No shock there, right? But the other part of that is that of course many are saying it’s going to be one of the best bargain hunter’s dream season we’ve seen ever.

However, as I just talked about in my last posting, deflation, or falling prices is hardly ever good news in an already browbeaten economic atmosphere. Most economists and analysts are saying that if October’s record drops in retail sales are any indication, consumers are holding onto their money for dear life and will definitely be holding out on holiday retailers as well, making this one of the worst retail sales holiday seasons on record. Heck, I was just discussing this with my own family, and we decided to put a lower than usual price limit on our own annual gift exchange for the Christmas holiday.

I’m imagining that lots of people are doing this, scaling back on buying gifts for their friends and family and maybe instead putting the focus of their holiday shopping dollars on kids since they are the most important part of the holiday season. Even toy retailers have been feeling the crunch of the shopping moratorium, with makers like Mattel and Toyco’s stocks dropping in the wake of dismal forecasts for toy sales this season. However, it still must be noted that in times of economic downturn, parents still notoriously keep spending on their children.

I’ve already gotten the down low on the black friday shopping deals in my email, and believe me, if you are in the market for any kind of pricey electronic like a laptop computer or even cameras or GPS devices, then you really should think about making those purchases around this time since you may not be finding many better prices any time soon on these types of normally high ticket items.

If you’re not feeling the economic crunch and your job is safe, why not use this as an opportune buying experience for some of the higher priced items you may have been putting off? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Just make sure you’re not spending money that should be saved in case someone in your family loses their job, if you think you may be at high risk for that.