(WSVN) - According to business experts, many consumers no longer wait for Black Friday deals to start their holiday shopping.
“Holiday deals start coming out in October. It might surprise you, but actually, the projections are very optimistic,” said Barry Babin of the University of Mississippi.
With November right around the corner, the National Retail Federation predicted people will spend more than $1 trillion this holiday season, which is Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.
“The growth is expected to be 4.2%. So, the consumers are spending, and they’re spending carefully, but they’re going to spend,” said Babin.
As people start to plan their budgets and shopping lists, Babin highlighted what items might be selling the most this year.
“There’s a lot of nostalgic, kind of a backlash, to technology, in some sense, like Polaroid cameras made a comeback, record players, CD players even,” said Babin.
Another trend this season, according to Babin, is in-store shopping.
“You’re seeing a return to the stores as people are looking for authentic experience, especially when you’re dealing with high-ticket items and luxury items, because buying online opens you up to fraud a lot more than buying from a legitimate retailer in-store,” said Babin.
Experts advised those hunting for deals online to watch out for scams and fake information, which might be hard to recognize.
“The percentage, overall, for online information that’s fake is over 50%, and reviews, overall are over 30% fake,” said Babin.
Experts said higher household costs amid rising inflation has made shoppers more selective, with retailers like Walmart and Kohl’s indicating pressure on consumer spending in the weeks ahead.
The NRF said it will release new holiday return insights in mid-December.
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