Get a head start on your holiday shopping as retailers roll out more deals

This holiday shopping season is ramping up – and instead of waiting to shop on Black Friday or after, the majority of shoppers plan to start their shopping before one of the biggest shopping days of the year. 

A new survey from the mobile marketing blog SessionM reveals interesting information about our holiday shopping plans. The group surveyed more than 11,000 mobile users to find out how consumers will do their shopping this year. 

Read more: Online Shopping Guide: How to get the best price possible

How consumers plan to shop this holiday season

A few interesting stats: 

• 26% of people have already started their holiday shopping.
  
• 58% of shoppers plan to start shopping before Black Friday.
  
• The average person will spend about $461 for the holidays.
  
• 78% of people plan to shop in-store, 58% will shop online via desktop or laptop, and 43% will shop via their mobile device or smartphone.
  
• 82% of people plan to use loyalty points for some of their holiday purchases.
  
• 61% of women plan to shop before Thanksgiving, while 49% of men say they will.
  
• 45% of shoppers plan to use mobile payments like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung pay or a specific mobile payment option offered by the retailer.

Read more: Retailers turn Black Friday into month-long extravaganza

The takeaways

The customer experience is omni-channel, perhaps more than ever – meaning that many customers plan to shop both in-store and online. Mobile has become increasingly important, with many consumers planning to use the relatively newer technology of mobile payments. And, a big majority of customers plan to take advantage of any loyalty programs their favorite companies are offering in order to save money. 

What to know when shopping online

When it comes to online shopping, besides using our guide to get the best prices possible, here are a couple of other things to know to keep your wallet protected this holiday season:

• Don’t shop online using public Wi-Fi. If you have to enter any personal or financial information (such as a credit card number), make sure to use a secure network. If you’re using your phone or tablet, switch over to using your data to make the purchase (instead of using a public Wi–Fi network).
  
• Never shop online with a debit card. If your information is stolen, and in result your account is hacked, it’s much more difficult to get your money back than if that were to happen while using a credit card. And on that note, here are 9 places to never use a debit card.

Catch the best deals as they become available

Also, retailers are planning a multi-tiered approach for deals and promotions. For example, Walmart began talking about holiday shopping as early as August by unveiling its holiday layaway program. The same week, the company also announced the first ever Toy Week, which offered sneak peeks of some of the top toys for the holidays chosen by kids. Force Friday was another effort by the mega-store to create buzz around the upcoming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which included movie merchandise only sold at Walmart. 

These types of promotions create momentum and keep consumers engaged, leading up to the more “official” start of the holiday shopping season. With so many shoppers starting their shopping early, it’s no wonder retailers are rolling out great deals and promotions earlier than Black Friday. 

So what does this mean for you? New deals are popping up every day, and will continue to do so throughout the holiday season — so keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to save on any specific items you know you want to buy this year.

Here are a few so far:

• New deals at Walmart, Target and Best Buy
• Amazon kicks off 7-week sale with Black Friday deals store
• Target offering free shipping on all orders

For more of the latest deals and savings, click here.