Thursday is Thanksgiving – Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And then the real fun begins: Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales!

Will you be out early on Friday, or even late on Thursday, looking for the best deals? Or are you waiting for Monday and hitting up some Cyber Monday sales? Or doing both? Tell us all about it!

As you know, this week is when the holiday gift-giving season really gets rolling. In fact, this holiday weekend shopping is expected to be bigger than ever, with 74% of Americans planning to spend on either Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to finder.com.

The average adult is expected to spend $483.18 this holiday shopping weekend, which equates to $90.14 billion — up $30.57 billion from 2017’s spending of $59.57 billion, according to finder.com.

And who says men aren’t shoppers? At least for the holidays they are. (you can include my husband in that category!) According to finder.com, some 77% of men say they plan to shop over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, versus 71% of women. In addition, men are expected to spend nearly double that of women, budgeting an average $626.44, compared with $342.50 for women.

Now for you Black Friday shoppers, here is some interesting info from blackfriday.com (yes, there’s actually a website dedicated to Black Friday!):

  • In 2017, 11% of Black Friday shoppers started shopping before 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Another 11% began at 6 p.m. An additional 25% started at 10 a.m. or later on Black Friday itself.
  • During Black Friday weekend 2017, 64 million shopped both online and in stores; 58 million shopped only online and 51 million shopped only in stores.
  • In 2017, Black Friday was the most popular day for in-store shopping (77 million shopped in store on Black Friday 2017).
  • Heading into Black Friday 2017, consumers said they were looking for deals on the following: Tablets/laptops/PCs/TVs (27%); clothing (24%); smart-home gadgets (15%); toys (15%); gift cards (11%); and travel (8%).

If you’ve ever wondered where the terms Black Friday and Cyber Monday came from, here’s a little history lesson, from skimlinks.com: “Black Friday” was first used to describe the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy in the 1960s by newspapers in Philadelphia. At the time, the newspapers felt the massive crowds in stores and insanity in the aisles were comparable to the original “Black Friday”: a stock-market panic that followed the collapse of the price of gold on September 24, 1864.

Cyber Monday, meanwhile, was a pure marketing term created in 2005, to take advantage of the growing online shopping market.

OK, so whether you shop in a store or online, please remember to record all of your holiday shopping purchases. And take special care recording your online purchases (since we know you’ll be doing a lot of Cyber Monday shopping! LOL).

Here are our best tips for recording online purchases.

  • Online purchases may come in one or multiple shipments and don’t always include a packing receipt. Consider printing out your email/order confirmation so you can refer back to it when reporting your purchase.
  • If your items do come separately, please scan them as you receive them.
  • If an item arrives with the UPC barcode covered by another label, try carefully peeling off that label and scanning the UPC barcode on the item (or manually enter the barcode number if the barcode is damaged).
  • If you buy something from the website of a retailer that also has a storefront, make sure to report the trip as an online purchase. For example, if you order something from Walmart’s website, select “Walmart .com” when you record the purchase (whether the item was shipped directly to you or picked up at the store).

Have a very happy holiday, and I hope your holiday shopping experience is a good one!

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