If you ask people their least favorite day of the week, the consensus is almost always Monday. Everybody hates Mondays. But now, there’s a reason to love them.
Believe it or not, there’s a good day of the week to buy just about everything. Tuesday, for example, is thought to be the best day to buy airline tickets. Thursday evening is said to be a good time to shop for clothing (because stores have started stocking their shelves for weekend promotions).
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Now, two online blogs (extrabux.com and camelcamelcamel.com) have teamed up to put some real empirical data behind some oft-repeated claims about when to get the best deals. And the winner for Best Day to Buy a Whole Bunch of Online Stuff: Monday.
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Monday has so many it would like to thank, especially manufacturer discounts. According to the two blogs’ findings, which looked at “two years of historical price data from thousands of online retailers and over 100,000 different products,” Monday is the best day to buy computers, electronics, TVs, cameras and video games. The reasons for the lower prices early in the week vary, but many computer and electronics manufacturers apply their discounts and rebates on that day, which are then passed along to the consumer.
What’s interesting is how prices fluctuate for different products. For computers, the low on Monday is around $1,210 but by Friday it’s peaked at $1,256. Televisions and video games display a similar pattern, with prices near $1,100 on Monday and reaching $1,122 by Friday.
Cameras, however, are different. While the lowest prices are just below $200 on Monday, the price spikes Tuesday and pretty much stays there the rest of the week, with only a minor dip on Friday. It seems as if cameras are used primarily as traffic drivers on Mondays to get consumers to a site, where they’ll hopefully buy something more expensive than a $200 Nikon.
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Outside of consumer electronics, it’s kind of a crapshoot. Major appliances are cheapest on Sundays, jewelry is at its lowest on Wednesdays, and the best time to buy books is on Saturdays, according to the data.
While prices don’t fluctuate wildly, in the long-term, knowing the best day to buy could save you some serious money. And it’ll at least make Monday a bit more bearable.