NBC News Holiday Price Check: When's the best time to buy toys, TVs and other hot items?

NBC News Holiday Price Check is tracking popular gifts through Black Friday, Christmas and beyond, so consumers can comparison-shop and time their purchases.

Figuring out when to buy gifts for the holidays can be an endless source of stress: Is it better to scoop up purchases early, launch into action around the big Thanksgiving sales events, or wait until the last minute? To help answer those questions, NBC News is tracking the online prices of five popular holiday gifts in major categories through the end of the year.

We evaluated products from kitchen appliances and TVs to Bluetooth headphones, toys and shoes, zeroing in on five that are likely to be bestsellers in their categories, according to experts at Consumer Reports, Wirecutter and Wired:

We’re tracking the prices of these five items on major retail websites — including Amazon, Target, Walmart and others — every week from Amazon’s Prime Day back in July through the holiday shopping period, highlighting when each of them is cheapest.

If these specific items aren’t on your list, it may be worth keeping an eye on them anyway. NBC News found that most major retailers’ promotions follow Amazon’s sales calendar, so if one of the products we’re tracking drops in price, it could signal declines for similar ones in the broader category.

For the first time in several years, holiday shoppers are confronting an economy in which inflation has almost entirely slowed to a normal rate, even though many consumers are still adjusting to the higher levels where prices have settled. In a holiday survey the accounting firm PwC shared with NBC News, 59% of consumers said they will likely be influenced by inflation in their shopping decisions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/best-time-buy-toys-tvs-hot-holiday-items-rcna173743

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