The big difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The Street

Trae Bodge, a smart shopping expert, joins TheStreet to explain the major difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Transcript

00:00So, in today's digital age, is there much of a difference between the deals we see on

00:07Black Friday versus Cyber Monday?

00:10This is such a good question.

00:11So here's how I look at Black Friday versus Cyber Monday.

00:15So Black Friday started out as an in-store only day.

00:18It's obviously an online day as well, but the way I look at it is that the deals on

00:24Black Friday tend to be more specific, a bit more narrow.

00:28Maybe it's one kind of TV, for example.

00:31On Cyber Monday, the deals tend to broaden, so you may see multiple deals across one brand

00:37of TV.

00:38So you have a little bit more option, a little more choice as well.

00:43And so, you know, you have some flexibility on Cyber Monday.

00:46And then the other thing about Cyber Monday, if a retailer happens to have some flexibility,

00:52if they don't have a great Black Friday, they could perhaps increase those discounts for

00:57Cyber Monday.

00:58So sometimes the deals tend to be a little bit better on Cyber Monday.

01:04That was my next question, because in this whole entire season, looking past Cyber Monday

01:09and Black Friday, where do you expect the biggest and best deals when you take a look

01:14at online versus in-store?

01:17And I'm curious as to know, which is leading which?

01:20Are the deals leading the consumer where to shop, or is the consumer leading the retailer

01:27where to put the best deals?

01:29So I think it's a little bit of both.

01:31You know, retailers have these plans that they've had in place for many months.

01:36This is part of their big season.

01:38And so in that way, the retailer is guiding things.

01:41But some retailers, especially smaller retailers, can pivot a little bit on Cyber Monday and

01:47offer that deeper discount.

01:49Now, in terms of retailers who sell both online and in-store, we tend to see that those deals

01:56are comparable across the board.

01:58Retailers are trying to create what they call an omni-channel experience for the consumer,

02:02so you can shop in whatever way you want.

02:05I would say one thing about Black Friday, though, is because you often see these very

02:09quick lightning deals or doorbuster deals that come and go.

02:15The inventory is fairly low.

02:17So I think you can do better on Black Friday if you are in-store to snap up that item before

02:22someone else.

02:24And so that, to me, would be the difference.

02:26But really, if you don't like those crowds, you could certainly just kick back in your

02:30PJs and shop online.

02:32Now, sticking with this idea between online and in-store, this year there are fewer shopping

02:40days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

02:42So how does that impact one's shopping strategy or decision whether to buy online or to get

02:48up off the couch and go into the store?

02:52Yeah, and to your point, we have fewer shopping days.

02:55And so what I expect is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be very strong because

02:59people don't have as much time to shop.

03:02But thankfully, it is easy to get many items quite quickly.

03:07If you're shopping on a site like Amazon, for example, they ship very quickly in a couple

03:11of days.

03:12And then there are services like Instacart, for example.

03:15You can kick back in your PJs and send an Instagram shopper out there to do your shopping

03:20and have those items delivered the same day.

03:23And Instacart has a really cool feature called the Express Pass, which means that the minimums

03:29for getting free shipping and same-day shipping are much lower during the holiday shopping

03:34season.

03:35So that's another option.

03:37If you don't want to go into the stores, you can send a shopper, an Instacart shopper in

03:41there for you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended