You walk into your kitchen in the morning to find that your trusty refrigerator packed up overnight, and your fridge defrosted itself all over the floor. You knew this day was coming, and it’s time to start looking at a replacement.
Appliances like fridges and washing machines can cost a bundle. Some smart-fridges from top brands like Samsung, retail for more than $5,000, and the chances are that you don’t have that kind of money to spend on a refrigerator.
Whether you’re looking for a fridge, microwave or any home appliance, everyone wants a good deal on their appliance purchase. However, very few people are willing to put the research into finding the best prices.
According to consumer research by Statista, the two most valued criteria for purchasing a new appliance, are considered as product quality and value for money.
Sourcing the best price on your new appliance requires you to spend some time reviewing the market and what dealers have on offer. However, the time of the year also plays a significant role in the pricing of appliances, and if you enter the market at the right time, you could get a fantastic deal that saves you money.
We put together this guide to help you understand the best times of the year to buy your appliances.
Holiday Weekends and Holidays
The chances are that when you read this heading, you immediately thought of the deals on offer on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Both of these holidays occur in the last quarter of the year, with Black Friday being the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday follows the weekends shopping festivities. Both of these holidays offer great deals on appliances from TVs to refrigerators.
However, anyone who’s visited a retailer on Black Friday knows that the crowds are insane, and the chances are you’ll have to stand in line at Walmart for five or six hours to ensure they aren’t sold out by the time you get into the store.
Cyber Monday offers a discounted shopping experience from the comfort of your armchair, but you’ll have to deal with vast volumes of internet traffic that may crash the retailer’s site – especially if they have a great deal available.
Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are excellent times of the year to buy your appliances, but they aren’t the only vacation days where you can find a good deal available at a retailer. Memorial Day, Presidents Day, Labor Day, and 4th of July sales are all excellent opportunities to buy appliances at discounted prices.
Buying on a holiday sale could save you as much as 50-percent on the sticker price of the item, with some Black Friday sales offering up to 90-percent off selected appliances.
Before New Models Come to Market
If you’re looking to buy an appliance, it’s a prudent strategy to make your purchase when brands launch a new model to the market. Most retailers will drop their prices on older models to make way for the increase in demand for the new model.
Smart TVs are a great example of this phenomenon. When Samsung launched their UHD curved Smart TV’s, retailers slashed prices on older models, hoping to clear the old stock to make way for the new range.
This same phenomenon exists in every product range, from fridges to microwaves. Think about how much a PlayStation 4 cost on its release, versus what you pay for it in the store today. When the PlayStation 5 eventually arrives, you can expect retailers to cut the price of the PS4 system drastically.
Before you decide to hit the stores searching for your new appliance, do a quick internet search to see if any brands are releasing new products soon.
Month End
Most retailers run their books from the first of their month to the last day of the month. Many stores also have monthly sales targets to meet, and if they find that they are falling behind on their quota, they may decide to run a sale.
Launching an end of month sale helps the retailer reach their targets, and it helps them get rid of old stock that isn’t selling well. If you decide to visit a month-end sale, the chances are that you won’t find any premium brands or products that you like on promotion. It’s more likely that the retailer will place offers on slow-selling items and leave the popular goods at full sticker price.
This sales strategy helps the retailer get more feet into the store, and they know that once you step over the threshold of their business, their sales people have a better chance of upselling you to a more expensive appliance.
Many retailers use shady tactics to cover up their strategy. They may run an advert in the newspaper that shows a different item to the one they are selling, with an asterisk leading to the fine print that says the appliance “looks like,” the one in the advert. When you get to the store, you find that the product is entirely different from your expectations.
If a store isn’t running a promotion, then you can always ask for a discount, especially at month end. Don’t be afraid to take a chance, the worst they can do is say no – if you don’t ask, then you don’t get.
The Best Months to Buy Appliances
There are specific times of the year where retailers discount items, and brands bring new products to market that result in sell-offs of previous product ranges. Here is a quick guide to the best times of the year to make your next appliance purchase.
- September and October – During these two months, most appliance manufacturers release their new models, making it an ideal time to start hunting for a new water filter, TV, or microwave. Many retailers will be offering discounts on the previous models that the new range is replacing.
- November – In 2019, Black Friday falls on November 29th, with Cyber Monday occurring on December 1st. Retailers run fantastic deals on a range of appliances, but the crowds may put you off from visiting the store. Cyber Monday offers less congestion for the shopper, but you may have trouble accessing the sites of retailers with spectacular specials, due to the volume of traffic visiting the website.
- May – Refrigerator manufacturers release their new models at the start of the summer. As a result, you may find that retailers offer excellent deals on their old range of fridges during the early summer.
- January – Retailers understand that consumers are tapped out after the holiday season. To stimulate spending in January, most of the brands in the retail sector offer seasonal sales to clear their inventory from the previous year. These January sales are excellent opportunities to pick up the last remaining discounted models of the prior year, and you could find some spectacular bargains.
Shopping Online
E-commerce is starting to eclipse traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores. In 1999, a man named Jeff Bezos started an online retail store that would become the most valuable retailing operation the world has ever known. In the last 20-years of Amazon’s dominance, it’s gone from Jeff Bezos tiny apartment to a global behemoth with even the U.S Government relying on its server infrastructure.
The United States leads the world in online sales, with e-commerce revenues estimated to fetch a staggering $3.4-trillion in 2019, with sales accounting for nearly 14-percent of all global retail transactions. Studies indicate that e-commerce will account for 95-percent of all retail purchases by 2040.
It’s quite clear that retail is moving online. Online sellers have less overhead, fewer staff wage expenses, and exposure to the global marketplace, as opposed to a regional or local location.
It may surprise you to learn that e-commerce has seasonal shopping trends and discount strategies from retailers as well. If you aren’t already buying most of your appliances online in 2019, then the chances are that you will be doing so in the future.
The only drawback stopping online from entirely eclipsing the retail trade is the fact that you can’t touch or feel the items on display. However, the rise of augmented reality technology, now means that customers can see how clothes fit, what furniture looks like in their living room, and how appliances gift in the kitchen.
Statistics show that it’s best to make your online purchases for appliances after 3-p.m on a Thursday. Research shows that this is the time of the week when admins like to change pricing on their sites, and you may encounter a good deal before the rest of the market.
Other retailers may offer special discounts on specific days of the year, such as holidays, or they may decide to run specials on their “birthday” or because of other global events, like the Olympics. Some brands like Samsung, one of the games official sponsors, will offer discount codes to people during the event.
Amazon is well known for its amazing deals on offer during “Prime Day,” and there are other sites like Swagbucks and eBates offering gift cards and cashback rebates for online shopping.
Sourcing Deals on Pre-Owned Appliances
There are occasions where you can find an excellent deal online or at a retail outlet. It may cost you a bit more time hunting down a deeply-discounted appliance, but if you save a few hundred dollars, it’s worth your while.
If you’re looking for the best price on an appliance, you may have to be willing to accept some slight damage or a second-hand item. However, if you’re searching for the lowest prices available, then try these sources.
- Craigslist and Classifieds – There are thousands of items available on Craigslist, and the chances are there is every appliance you can imagine. There’s a variety of reasons why people sell on Craigslist, from moving abroad, to selling their old stuff because they got an upgrade. Always ensure that you follow the Craigslist rules for dealing with buyers, and be wary of scammers.
- Floor Models at Stores – Retailers keep floor models in store to allow customers to get a feel for what they are buying. As a result, the store may sell them off when the new model arrives, when arriving at an appliance store, as the clerk if they have any deals on floor or demo models. Check the display units for signs of damage like dings, dents, and scratches. Make the manager an offer to buy the damaged stock and a discounted rate.
- Repair Centers – Some people take their appliances to the repair shop and then end up leaving it there because it’s too expensive to fix. The repair center may fix it and sell it to customers for a discounted price. Some customers also drop off their appliances for repair, the technicians fix it, and then the customer is never heard from again. The repair center will sell the goods to pay for the labor costs, sometimes at a very reasonable price.
- Pawn Brokers – When people need cash in a hurry, they can make stupid decisions and pawn functional appliances in the hope of recovering the funds pay the broker. However, most of these people end up defaulting on their pawn option, and the broker then sells the appliance to recover their money.
- Liquidation Centers – People who failed to pay for the appliances or merchandise they buy may land up with the retailer or financial institution repossessing their goods. You can pick up some excellent deals if you’re willing to deal in the desperation of others.
Read: Our Guide to Craigslist
In Closing – Tips for Finding the Deal of a Lifetime
Studies into consumer behavior and manufacturing releases show that the prices on new models are higher during the first two quarters of the year, with prices falling off into the later months of the 4th quarter.
The same study shows that the first discount holiday worth noting is the 4th of July, with retailers offering deeper discounts at each holiday toward the end of the year. If you’re looking at purchasing a stove or dishwasher, then statistics show that prices on these appliances are best over Black Friday and toward the latter half of the year.
Always take time to shop around before you finalize your purchase. Buying online makes it easy to review hundreds of products, without leaving the comfort of the couch.
If you do find something, you like but aren’t sure about whether it fits your kitchen or lounge, visit the store and take a look at the physical model before finalizing your online purchase. This strategy drives salespeople at retail locations crazy, but it could save you a significant amount of money on your appliance.
2 Comments
I like how the article explains that you should look for a new appliance in September and October because that is when companies release new models so you can get the best appliance on the market. My husband and I are building a home and we are wanting the best appliances in our home. We will look into buying our appliances when the new models come out so we can have the best appliances in our new home.
My husband told me that we need to buy new appliances for our new home. Thanks for the tip that we can buy them for less if a new model is launched into the market. I think we’ll look around so we can see which stores have sales for appliances that include discounts as well.