I’m going all-in on Prime Day shopping instead of Black Friday

To say that 2020 has been a weird year would be an understatement, and with Prime Day being delayed until right before Black Friday, things are about to get even weirder for those doing holiday shopping. This year, I will be doing almost all of my holiday shopping with Prime Day deals instead of waiting for Black Friday deals in November, and I would urge that you consider doing the same this year.

Sure, it’s only October, and the big holidays are in December, but there are a lot of factors in play that lead me to this choice. Here are a few of the key factors that I’ve been considering, and there may even be more great reasons to shop more on Prime Day 2020 than you have in the past.

Prime Day deals will offer low prices

Amazon has always been quite aggressive with its Prime Day pricing when the event takes place in July. Prime Day has historically been the biggest shopping event each year for Amazon, and this year I would wager that the company wants to keep that momentum up and steal away some of the early holiday shopping.

In order to entice people to start shopping for the holidays 6 weeks earlier than they normally do, Amazon will need to ensure that Prime Day deals and sales offer great prices or people will wait it out. Personally, I think that Amazon is going to offer steep deals and price drops on all of its own hardware (both the new stuff and old inventory that needs to be cleared out), and that will mean you can get some pretty great deals if you buy when it’s in stock.

Some of the most popular items that sell each year include the Echo Dot, Instant Pot, Fire TV Stick, and much more.

Avoid product stock issues by purchasing when available

It’s been interesting to see how quickly certain products have gone in and out of stock over the past couple of months. While we are seeing some improved levels of stock on different categories, there are still some things like webcams, gaming consoles, and more that are nearly impossible to find in stock.

Some vendors may be holding back stock right now for Prime Day so that things are not sold out when people are trying to spend money, and if I can find something in stock and at a price that I am comfortable paying there’s no way I will be missing out on purchasing stuff that’s on my gift list for this year.

There’s a big chance that if you miss out on something being in stock on Prime Day, that you may miss one of your only chances to purchase it before the holidays. Sure, some of them will sell out and more inventory will arrive, but on other products they will just be sold out for the rest of the season, or in very short supply.

Shipping delays are a major factor

You don’t have to look far online to see that shipping times are not quite what they used to be. Amazon has done its best during the whole pandemic to keep shipping times as quick as it could, but it looks like the times are already slipping again. I’ve personally placed several orders in the recent weeks that took up to a week for the delivery, and there were many other products that I didn’t end up buying that showed delivery times even further out than that.

The closer to the holidays we get, the busier that FedEx, UPS, and USPS will be getting as people are looking to move presents and gifts across the country. While Amazon has done an excellent job over the recent years to build up its own delivery service, there are still 60% of shipments that USPS is doing the “last mile” of the delivery — the part of the delivery that puts it at a customers front door.

Prime Day deliveries may not be ultra delayed, but with an influx in orders coming from Prime Day deals, odds are that it will trickle down and push delivery times out further ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Procrastination feels like the wrong move this time

What all of this sums up to is that waiting just feels like the wrong choice this year. Usually, Prime Day is in July and Black Friday is in November. That means there is more than four full months between the two events, and you don’t really have to think of them in relation to each other. This time around, there is a mere six weeks between the year’s two biggest shopping events.

Failing to plan is planning to fail

This quote from Alan Lakein is one of my favorites. During times like these you need to be prepared. You need to have a plan, and you need to stick to it. Shopping early won’t do you any harm. You can put the gift in a closet, let them sit on a spare bed, or keep them in the box until you want to wrap them up. This will give you plenty of time to get them in the mail before the holiday rush really begins, and it will make sure that your loved ones all have what you want them to have, before it’s too late.

I know this strategy won’t work for everyone, but for anyone who’s on the fence about shopping on Prime Day versus waiting for Black Friday, you may want to give this some thought and see which strategy really works best for you.