Should you wait until the January sales to buy a TV?

The lure of the January sales used to be impossibly tempting before the days of the internet. People would rush to the shops after the end of the previous year, before they had even had a chance to digest all of the Christmas cake and mince pies. There they would take advantage of the low January prices to buy presents for Christmas the following year, to give the house a make-over or for any one of a myriad of other reasons. However, things are very different today.

If you are solely looking to buy a television from a high street store without reference to the internet, then there is some weight behind the suggestion that you wait until the January sales begin before making a purchase. The January sales are still a big deal on the high street and some cut-throat price reductions and underselling are certain to occur on a whole variety of products to ease the post-Christmas lull in consumer spending. Nowadays, however, even if you are determined to jump in the car and head to John Lewis, Currys or PC World to buy a TV, you should check out their online offers via comparison sites before you do so. Most high street stores have a strong online presence and will offer web-exclusive deals to their online customers that you simply will not get in store. Some will also offer deals exclusive to their online partners so it is worth casting the net a little wider than simply the retailer's site.

Buying from a high street retailer online will also allow you to have the product delivered directly to your door, removing the need to brave the crush on the streets that is an unwelcome signature of the January sales. Since modern televisions are almost invariably large and relatively heavy, it can also save you the logistics nightmare of having to transport and lift the new television yourself.

There are of course alternatives to shopping at high street stores either physically or online during the January sales. There are hundreds of online-only retailers, including established brands such as Amazon, selling everything they stock over the internet. Because they have no shop floor staff to retain or stores to maintain you are assured of some incredibly low prices on TVs, even if they are the latest releases. Delivery is often free from such retailers, which will save you even more.

The interesting thing about shopping online is that in most cases the impact of the January sales, or any other discounted period for that matter, is usually relatively small. This is because online retailers are able to sell at a much lower price than high street shops all year round. Online retailers often operate their discounting systems on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. As such it is possible to pick up a low price TV online outside of the traditional sale periods. Keeping an eye on a number of different online retailers and shopping around for the best deal will almost invariably allow you to save hundreds of pounds on the recommended retail price of TVs.

There are additional reasons as to why you might want to pick up your new TV online before the January sales kick off. Christmas is traditionally a time when the television schedules become packed full of some of the best films and shows that the past 60 years of broadcasting have to offer. As such, enjoying all of this on a new television, as well as hooking up any new gadgets and watching DVDs or Blu Ray discs on an HD ready TV on Christmas day, is something that will appeal to a significant number of consumers.