PHOENIX — You've likely seen the ads while scrolling on your phone or watching TV... stores are promising major discounts for Memorial Day weekend.
"We're starting to see the retailers really amp up their offerings now," said Julie Ramhold, a consumer analyst for DealNews.com, "We're expecting clothing to be discounted up to 80% over the course of the weekend."
Ramhold says if you're in the market for a new mattress or appliance, now is the time to buy!
"We do expect to see discounts as high as $1,000 off," said Ramhold, "but we're also expecting things like major appliances to be on sale for around 35% off, and we're already seeing stores like Lowe's and Home Depot and Best Buy including them in their offers. And of course, home furniture is another big one, and Overstock is already offering up to 70% off of a few categories."
Ramhold tells us there are some surprises, "Summery items. So, if you're looking for patio furniture, it's a surprise. We don't normally necessarily expect to see those kinds of discounts right now."
Something else that's new this year is how some companies are branding their sales.
"It seems like retailers are kind of veering away from using the Memorial Day language. I've seen a lot of sales this year that are being branded as like 'Summer Kickoff Sale.' So, if you're kind of keeping an eye out for just Memorial Day sales, you may be missing out on some of the better ones just because they're calling it something different," Ramhold said.
Like always, the best way to find the biggest price cuts is by doing your own research.
That can mean going to websites like CamelCamelCamel.com which will tell you the price history of an item. That way you can see if the sale price is really a good deal or if you would have spent the same amount a month ago.
"It pays to look at the product pages and see what they're calling the before price. Amazon likes to do this too, especially around big holidays. It'll say that you know this is the list price, but they never charge the list price. So, the discount will seem better than it is just because it's being taken off of that list price," says Ramhold.
As for what not to buy, Ramhold says Back to School electronics like laptops and other summer items will usually have better discounts on the 4th of July.