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NewsTranscript
00:00I'm Sarah Muller, a reporter with Forbes, and today I'm joined by my colleague, Cara
00:07Kazon.
00:08Thank you so much for joining me, Cara.
00:10We have a lot to talk about.
00:12Thanks for having me.
00:14So you are on our Forbes vetted team, and you have a very big week ahead of you as we
00:19are facing Amazon Prime Day.
00:21We're going to talk about the do's, the don'ts.
00:23We're going to talk about what products people are most excited about.
00:26So just to get us started, what should customers have an eye on this Prime Day?
00:32Good question.
00:35I would say my biggest tip would be to think about what you actually need going into Prime
00:42Day.
00:44So it's going to be a little bit different for everyone, but think about whether that's,
00:48you know, household appliances, maybe your vacuum needs to be replaced.
00:52Maybe you need a new pair of headphones, whatever it might be.
00:56I think definitely my biggest tip would be just to think about what you need ahead of
01:02the sale.
01:03That way you're going to be less likely to kind of get sucked into those impulse buys.
01:08But I will say typically things like appliances and tech are items where you can typically
01:14find the best deal.
01:16Okay, so what should people not do?
01:19What do you advise them to maybe stay away from when approaching all of these sales?
01:25Yeah, there are a few things.
01:28First off, I would say a big mistake that I see is sometimes folks will wait until the
01:35second day of the sale and kind of hope that, you know, a deal that they saw on the first
01:40day might drop even lower on the second day and they can kind of hold out.
01:45But majority of the time, if there is a deal that's already live, it will not drop any
01:51lower on the second day.
01:53So as soon as you see it, you should just kind of take advantage.
01:56That said, you know, if a product isn't on sale yet on the first day, you can still hold
02:00out and shop the second day.
02:02There's a chance that it might go on sale, but typically we don't see prices drop much
02:08if any lower between the first and the second day.
02:11I would say another thing, oh sorry, go ahead.
02:14No, no.
02:15I want all of your tips, so keep going.
02:18Okay, another mistake that we see a lot is people not doing price history research.
02:24I think this is a mistake that people aren't even aware of because, you know, they see
02:28that 40% off on Amazon site and they figure, you know, I must be getting 40% off this item.
02:35Whereas a lot of times, Amazon will actually inflate the original price of the item to
02:40make it look like it's 40% off when in reality, it's always 40% off or, you know, it's only
02:47in reality typically a couple of dollars more.
02:50So they're making it look like a better deal than it really is.
02:54So definitely you can do your own research.
02:58You can Google, you know, what the item went on sale for during past holidays, like Black
03:02Friday is typically the lowest prices.
03:07There are also price history tracking tools.
03:10One that we use is CamelCamelCamel and you can look up the item's price history for years
03:17into the past and kind of see what the average price of the item is.
03:21But also the easiest way would just be to shop through for presented deals coverage.
03:27We do price history research on every item in our lists.
03:31So if we're recommending it, you know that it's a good deal.
03:35I want to get to those lists here in a moment, but you brought up Black Friday.
03:38I am a planner.
03:40I do not want to be caught off guard during the holiday season.
03:42So should people be, you know, maybe doing some Black Friday shopping now this summer,
03:47even for Prime Day or, you know, are the best deals to hold out until after Thanksgiving?
03:52Definitely.
03:53That's a great question.
03:55I would say if you are organized enough to start Black Friday shopping now and you already
04:01know some of the items that you want to get, be it, you know, for a family member, for
04:06your kids.
04:07If you see an enticing deal, you can go ahead and shop now, especially if it is on an Amazon
04:14device in particular.
04:16All of Amazon's like Fire products, Echoes, all of those, you know, Amazon owned products,
04:23they typically offer the lowest prices of the year during Prime Day.
04:27So you know you're getting the best deal now.
04:30Also toys.
04:31Typically, there are some really good toy deals.
04:34I know our parenting editor has done her Black Friday shopping in the past.
04:38I would say definitely don't go overboard because there will be more opportunities to
04:43save.
04:44But if you see a deal that looks good enough, I would take advantage now and just get it
04:50out of the way because there's probably not going to be much of a price difference between
04:55the Prime Day price and the Black Friday price for a lot of items.
04:59Yeah, absolutely.
05:00I mean, there are tons of Amazon products that maybe might wait to go on sale, if not
05:06later.
05:07So let's talk about some of those hot ticket items this year.
05:10What do you guys have your eyes on for tech or anything that maybe I remember in the past
05:16that like the little green machine, the little carpet cleaner and thing, that was such a
05:20hot ticket item last year and the year before.
05:23Is that going to be making a return to your guys's lists?
05:26Yeah.
05:28It's obviously a little too soon to say what will be on sale this year.
05:32But I think if the little green machine, Ninja Creamy, any of those TikTok viral products
05:39go on sale, those are definitely going to be making our lists because those items don't
05:44tend to go on sale too often.
05:47I would say we're definitely keeping an eye out for Apple deals.
05:51Apple will typically drop some decent Prime Day deals.
05:54In fact, I saw that the second generation AirPods are already on sale for their lowest
06:00price ever.
06:01They're just $69 right now, which is crazy.
06:05I was thinking about getting another pair for myself just to have an extra pair at that
06:10price.
06:11And then I would also say beauty.
06:17Amazon has really been upping their game with the beauty deals in recent years.
06:22And so it can be a good opportunity to stock up on the Olaplex, the Laneige lip masks,
06:29those kind of staple viral products that a lot of people use and love.
06:35Prime Day can be a good opportunity to get those on sale as well.
06:39And your team will create a bunch of lists based on product types.
06:44So tech and headphones or here are the best kitchen appliances you need right now.
06:51What are some of those lists that you feel like people need to look out for when you
06:55guys publish them?
06:57Yeah, that's a great question.
06:59I would say definitely shop depending on the category that is most relevant to you.
07:08We'll have everything from beauty deals to parenting deals to specific category, specific
07:14deals, like maybe you're looking for a new robot vacuum.
07:19But one of my favorite lists that we do every year is a bestseller list.
07:24And we pull the bestsellers from Amazon overall, as well as our readers' favorite products
07:31or most clicked products throughout the first day.
07:34So that can be a really fun list to shop on the second day and kind of see what other
07:38shoppers are most interested in.
07:40And typically, I feel like personally, at least I'm always interested in what's trending.
07:45And you know, once you know something's trending, you just want it that much more.
07:50Yeah, absolutely.
07:52And our teams have worked together in the past.
07:53So I always know there's a night before article that says, you know, what's already gone on
07:58sale, you know, the day before Amazon Prime starts.
08:02Is there anything you guys are kind of looking for, for that specific night before?
08:06Is it going to be that drastic of a save for your wallets to have it the night before versus
08:12waiting for the day of?
08:14Yeah, I would say some of the early deals that are already out are actually worth shopping.
08:21You know, as early as up to a week before.
08:24So we've been covering those and again, just looking at price history and previous deals
08:30to kind of say, you know, this is still a good deal compared to, you know, whether it's
08:35the lowest price of 2024 or a match for an item's Black Friday price.
08:41But I would say majority of the time, those early deals, especially the night before,
08:49those are typically as low as the product's price is going to drop.
08:53And Amazon is just kind of letting the deals trickle out a little bit early.
08:57So you can wait if you want to be 100% sure day of that the price didn't go any lower.
09:03But I would say, you know, by morning of the first day, if it hasn't dropped any lower,
09:09it probably won't.
09:10And you should just pick it up now.
09:12Now one of the other deals that I always get anxious when I'm shopping is the lightning
09:16deals or the lightning deals, right?
09:18So they're only a set amount or for a set amount of time and you kind of got to hop
09:23on it.
09:24And so do you have any advice for those shoppers who are kind of maybe on the fence?
09:27They see something and they're not quite sure.
09:30What's your advice to them?
09:31Yeah, lightning deals.
09:34Time is definitely of the essence with those.
09:37Typically those are even steeper discounts.
09:39So if you see one on something that's on your wishlist, I would jump on it because how they
09:45work too is they will expire either within a window of time or within a quantity of units
09:53that Amazon can sell.
09:54So you'll see, it'll say like percentage claimed on that deal.
09:58And that is how many shoppers have already, you know, bought however many X amount of
10:03units they set aside.
10:06So if you wait too long, you could risk missing out on that deal.
10:10And typically, even if the item goes back on sale, it won't be as low as that lightning
10:14deal.
10:15So definitely lightning deals are fleeting, but if you see one, take advantage.
10:21Is there any other bits of wisdom you can depart on us before we approach these massive
10:27two days ahead of us?
10:29Yes.
10:30One thing that I would say is definitely make sure to look at competitor sales and don't
10:37just stick to Amazon.
10:38We've seen in recent years that everyone from Target to Walmart to Best Buy to also smaller
10:44brands are launching their own prime adjacent sales to kind of compete with Amazon's prices
10:49and in some cases, even offering lower prices.
10:53So if you do see a deal on Amazon, I would just, you know, take the extra couple of minutes
10:58to Google that product and make sure that the price isn't lower on a different site
11:02or on the brand's own site.
11:05A lot of times Amazon will price match and they do have a competitive price, if not the
11:11better price, plus the prime shipping is obviously really nice.
11:16But sometimes you can find a better deal somewhere else.
11:18So I would say, you know, just don't forget about those other retailers.
11:23And then also one other mistake that I feel like I see happen sometimes is that, you know,
11:30there's a lot of buzz around the first day of the sale.
11:34Everybody's shopping, everybody wants to see what's on sale.
11:37And then on the second day, people can kind of forget about it or just figure, you know,
11:41I already saw all of the deals, but Amazon does release new deals for the second day.
11:45So I would say it's worth a second look and just kind of make sure that you got everything
11:50you need and there are no like surprise deals that you're going to miss out on on the second
11:55day.
11:56So make your guys's lists, check out Forbes Vetted where you guys will have curated lists,
12:02including some of those price matching deals that you've got.
12:06And I mean, keep checking the website and keep checking for those deals.
12:10Kara, thank you so much for joining us today.
12:13I appreciate it.
12:14Of course.
12:15Thank you again for having me.