Super Saturday. It’s advertised and expected to be bigger than Black Friday. This is the time to use your negotiation skills to negotiate even bigger savings. You may be thinking how is that possible? You simply have to ask for exactly what you want. Here are five quick tips to make your holiday shopping even more spectacular and save you a bundle.
1. Online Items that are Out of Stock – call the company and ask them for a discount because it’s not available for Christmas. Especially if there is a message that says keep checking back we will have more in stock soon. They should still honor the sale price for you or give you some consideration because they didn’t plan well enough for the amount of sales they will have. For In store items that are out of stock – ask for a rain check on the sale price. If it was advertised and its not in stock ask them to extend the sale price to you when they get it back in
2. Ask Department Stores to match online prices of manufacturers plus give extra discounts – Macy’s is one store that is great for this and many others do this as well. I recently bought a new bedding set and the price at Macy’s was much higher than many online prices from the manufacturer and other outlets. I asked if they matched online and they said they did and I also asked for a military discount which I got an additional 10% off.
3. Open A Credit Card with the Store – If you don’t mind having a hit on your credit for opening an account, this time of year they offer huge specials off for opening an account with many of the stores. Make sure you immediately pay it off and even consider closing the account afterwards.
4. Ask for a quantity discount – If you are buying many things for many people on your list, ask if they have a bulk discount. If they say they don’t then ask what kind of specials, coupons or discounts do they have.
5. Finally, do your research ahead of time – preparing in advance so you know who has what specials going will save you a bundle of money and time. If you plan on shopping on Super Saturday, you might want to go early to beat the crowds. If you are one of the first people in the store, the employees may not be as worn our from the crowds and easier to work with to get what you want or need.
Negotiating in a retail environment is fun because its not expected that there are deals to be had. Go out this weekend and ask for what you want and see what kind of good deals you come up with. Share your experiences here so we can all get educated.