2009 Holiday Deal Projections

With Black Friday rapidly approaching, there are plenty of deals coming out that are making saving money during the holiday season easier and easier. This time last year, the recession was in its infancy and companies were still trying to figure out the way to attract new customers. During the holiday season of 2008, plenty of people were looking for deals. In fact, Savings.com saved people almost $4.4M* during the holidays in 2008. The most popular category was electronics and Savings.com's electronics deals saved users over $1.5M.

The top 5 categories with savings during the holiday season in 2008 were:

1. $1.5M with Electronics deals
2. $550K with Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry deals
3. $500K with Home & Garden deals
4. $350K with Travel deals
5. $150K with Health & Beauty deals

With the 2009 holiday season approaching, similar data was analyzed to see how the categories are shaping up and to see where people are looking for deals. As site traffic increased 300% since Oct 2008, it's obvious more people are looking for coupons. Overall, the main categories look very similar to holiday 2008, but there are some definite changes worth noting:

1. Electronics have seen an increase of about 250% since September 2009. The trend is showing strong growth going into the holiday season, so expect plenty of deals in the electronics category for Black Friday and continuing through the holiday season. These deals are definitely a place to find the best gifts for Dad and brother.

2. Apparel, Shoes and Jewelry has maintained its dominance showing a constant 20% of searches, but with the 300% increase in the number of people looking for apparel coupons, it seems more people are finding the coupons they are looking for. During the holidays, clothing coupons will be coming in rapidly. This is especially true since, while sales have decreased in the malls, they are maintaining online.

3. Health and beauty coupons have grown almost 100% over the past two months. Going into the holiday season, health and beauty coupons will become more prominent as shoppers search for gifts for wives, moms, sisters and girlfriends.

4. Home and garden deals have lost some ground over the last two months. With home sales declining across the country, deals pertaining to home and garden have declined rapidly. People are not looking to spend on their houses going into the holiday season. Limited budgets have motivated people to prioritize their budgets to include gifts, but not purchases for their homes.

5. Travel has also seen a huge decline going into holiday 2009. Like home & garden, travel spending is on the back burner with the on-going recession. Travel deals during the holiday season will not be the best, but once the holiday season is over, look to find more deals popping up for the heavy travel season starting in the spring.

The overall trend of people searching for deals has increased dramatically since holiday 2008. The main categories have shifted more to gift-specific, while in 2008 there was a good mix of gifts and personal purchases. Demand for home and garden deals have declined as the housing market has declined. Travel deals have also seen a decrease in demand as people are concentrating on spending for gifts instead of traveling.

* Savings calculated based on 15% average coupon savings.