Everyone’s heard of the dramatic mark-downs, doorbuster deals, and people going crazy over what products they want. What are we to expect for this coming year with stores now opening on Thanksgiving Day? Chief Industry Analyst of the NPD Group, Marshal Cohen, gives his predictions and insight on this year’s Black Friday hysteria.

“Do you have more relatives simply because stores are opening a day early? No, of course not. Stores are fooling themselves by front loading their sales into the first three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, instead of the last three, Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” explains Marshal Cohen, and he has a point. Are you adding more people to your holiday shopping list because stores are open a day earlier? Doubtful. Black Friday is now becoming Black Friday Week which is dramatically altering the total revenue generated on Black Friday itself.

According to Cohen, this is the biggest issue of this upcoming holiday season for retailers. “Many companies thought that they were giving up their business on Thursdays to their online competitors, so they believed adding more days to their sales would present them with the opportunity to combat their competition,” he claims. Friday will continue to be the biggest shopping day, followed by Thursday, then Saturday. Sunday has become virtually obsolete, especially with the addition of Cyber Monday, which was created by Cohen himself.

However, there are controversial issues with opening up on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is a national heritage holiday, not a religious one. Therefore, on average, more people celebrate turkey day than other consumer driven holidays that have religious backgrounds, like Christmas. Many of these national holidays have evolved to become retail holidays. When people think of holidays like Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, etcetera, big sales tend to be associated with them.

Compared to last year, there are fewer hot products out on the market (some including the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, accessories for electronics, novelty appliances, and toys).  Unexpectedly, there should be an increase of 4-4.5% in revenue generated this year as opposed to last year’s 3.2%. How is this possible if there are less hot products people want to buy? Well, 28% of consumers still plan on Black Friday shopping, even if they’re not shopping for the holidays.

“The biggest contenders to look out for, deal scoring wise, are going to be Walmart, Macy’s, Best Buy, Target and JC Penny. Each of these stores offers unique discount opportunities,” added Cohen. Between 6 PM and 7PM on Thursday night, Walmart will allow you to purchase an item at it’s markdown value even if they do not have it in stock at the moment. Macy’s is always a sale participant, especially with Black Friday lurking. Additionally, JC Penny has deals and discounts that vary by the hour. In other words, you could go into JC Penny at 10AM and return at 12PM to completely different shopping opportunities.

Locally, Riverhead is probably the best place to go if you want to score some great deals. Tanger will be having their annual “Moonlight Madness” event which goes from   6 PM to 2 AM Thursday night and then starts back up again at 6 AM Friday morning. Other shopping centers in Riverhead are also hosting some great sale opportunities as well.

Marshal Cohen wanted to give consumers advice prior to doing their Black Friday shopping in order to make the most out of their experiences and here are a few tips:

1.  Do your homework. – Research the products you are going to buy before hand so you can get a better grip on whether you’re getting the best deal possible or not. Check out the stores you want to visit online, also sites like Amazon.
2.  Ask stores to match your price. – Not all stores do this, but if you find the product at a cheaper price from another place, stores like Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Toys R Us will try their best to match that price.
3.  Shop in pairs. – Lines can get long, so have the other person wait on line while you shop and then switch.
4.  Stagger your shopping. – Find out which stores have the best deals and when. Don’t shop based solely on location.
5.  Save your receipt. – If you find out that the product becomes cheaper than when you purchased it, go back to the store with your receipt and they will give you a store credit.
6.  Wear comfortable shoes. – Although this may not seem like the most important, it definitely is. If your shoes aren’t comfortable you won’t want to spend as much time shopping, and thus, might not find the best deals. Therefore, happy feet equals happy wallet.

Following these tips should help you make the most out of your Black Friday experience. If you would like more advice, look up more about Marshal Cohen and his two books, Why Consumers Do What They Do  and Buy Me!.