The best shopping deals in August
By Victor Paul Alvarez | Yahoo! Shopping – Fri, Aug 2, 2013 6:58 PM EDT
Your August days and nights may be obscured by hazy weather and back-to-school mania. However, our shopping guidelines are clear about what you should, and should not, buy this month.
Many of these deals are obvious – patio furniture and grills. But 3D HDTVs
are also at an all-time low.“For example, this month grills and patio
sets will see red-hot discounts, but it would be smart to avoid buying a
new tablet,” says Dealnews.com.
Back-to-school basics
It
seems retailers are starting back-to-school sales as early as possible
these days, but August is the best month for discounts. Back-to-school
means more than cheap notebooks and pencils. Keep an eye out for cheap dorm furniture from retailers like Walmart — which offered futons for $89 last year, as well as computer desks for $29 — and special sales on backpacks and computer cases
for as little as $10. However, be warned: You get what you pay for. A
cheap backpack might not make it through the first semester. A solid
one, however, will be with you for life. For some of the best backpacks
for all your tech gadgets, you can't go wrong with Kensington. Check out their Kensington Contour Overnight Backpack. In this writer's humble opinion it is the best of its kind. And if you need a solid and fun speaker/radio for the dorm, check out the iHome iBT4, or any product from iHome. Again, I've never had a problem with any of the iHome products I've tested.
Also, Deals2buy.com says major retailers like Target and Office Max will run sales on everything from supplies to shoes to backpacks, offering a great opportunity to save on school necessities or even new purchases for the home office.
AcerBack-to-School Laptop Deals
Classes start soon, so August is your last chance to score a laptop deal
for school.“Look for deals on 15" Core i5 Ivy Bridge laptops with
prices ranging from $299 (the all-time low we've seen) to $323, which
was June's best laptop deal,” says Dealnews.15" AMD dual-core laptops
have remained below $300 this summer, averaging $237. Quad-core 15" AMD
systems have been hovering around the $375 price point for the same time
period.
“If you're particularly tight on cash and can't wait until September to see if Intel prices plummet to $299 again, an AMD system can save you a few bucks — or in the case of the quad-core systems, provide more power than a dual Intel notebook of the same price.”
If you want all the bells and whistles, check out the Aspire S7 Ultrabook. If anything is going to convince an Apple user to abandon the MacBook Air,
this is it. Acer's focus on the "Touch and Type Experience" shows in
the repositioned keyboard and high-definition touchscreen.
Summer fashions fly off the racks
Look for aggressive clothing discounts this month as retailers prepare for autumn apparel.
“Apparel retailers like American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch
slashed an extra 30% to 50% off sale items last year, and we anticipate
seeing similar trends in 2013. That said, keep in mind that last year
the best time to buy jeans was July through mid-August; after that,
discounts from popular jeans brands dropped off. In the final days of
July, we saw numerous Editors’ Choice deals trickle in that offered
enormous stacking coupons, and we expect to see much of the same in
August. Look for base sales that take 40% to 70% off.”
The same goes for swimwear.
If you live in a part of the country where the beaches are open
year-round, this is good news. Stellar swimwear deals tend to dry up
after August.
“Now's a great time to look for sales that take up to 60% off or more from department stores and retailers like Victoria's Secret.”
Yahoo!Patio furniture
If
you’ve been looking to spruce up your patio but were patient enough to
wait for rock bottom prices, now is the time to strike. Well, not right now, but soon.
“If you truly want to pay the absolute least amount of money for a new set, wait until the end of the month. Retailers like Sears and Home Depot
will be exceptionally eager to clear out any remaining stock at this
time, and discounts can reach as high as a staggering 90% off come
September.”
Deals2buy agrees that August is the time when
retailers are making way for fall inventory, so look to score deals on
warm weather furniture.
Hold off on the Kindle Fire/ Google Nexus 7
Amazon has debuted a Kindle Fire tablet in early September for the past two years. Consider waiting a few weeks for them to do it again.
“August
is not a smart time to purchase the current Fire tablet; you'll soon be
able to get a brand new model for roughly the same retail price, or,
you'll find reseller deals on the previous generation. Either way,
you'll get more for your money by waiting until Amazon's announcement.”
The same goes for one of Amazon's biggest rival in the inexpensive tablet
market — the Google Nexus 7. They introduced the second-generation
Nexus 7 recently for $229, slightly more than the previous generation's
price point of $199.
“All eyes will then be on Amazon to see if
the store does the same. If the new Fire is cheaper, and the slightly
pricier Nexus tablet doesn't sell like Google hopes, then we might see
special promotions for the Nexus 7 that bundle the tablet with a media
credit for music, videos, or books.”
Yahoo!Grills, of course
As with patio furniture, your patience will be rewarded if you’ve held off on a new grill purchase.
“Last year, we listed grill deals
that slashed as much as $200 off entry and mid-tier models. Yet, this
past July we saw no sales that came close. It follows then, that
retailers will begin taking more widespread cuts this month. Look to
vendors like Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Sears for the best deals.”
55" 3D HDTVs Hit Rock Bottom
Every
month I tell you that HDTVs are a good buy. It’s true. They just keep
getting cheaper. July saw once prohibitively expensive 55" 3D TV hit an
unprecedented low of $549. That’s 23% cheaper than any deal this entire
year.
“Chances are slim we'll see a repeat of that specific deal
in August, but regardless, it's still a great time to jump on the 3D
bandwagon. Look for 55" 3D TV deals in the $549 to $659 price range, the latter being the average price we've seen this summer.”
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