For What It’s Worth is a live podcast about the stuff we use, the trends we question and the products we can’t stop talking about. Stream new episodes bi-weekly on YouTube, hosted by NBC Select editorial director Lauren Swanson and NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin. Shop our product picks below and on Amazon.

March used to be one of the quietest retail months of the year. There’s no three-day weekends and no major holidays, so sales weren’t top of mind for companies and shoppers alike. But that’s absolutely not the case anymore. Especially after Amazon started hosting its Big Spring Sale, other retailers jumped on the bandwagon, like Ulta, Sephora, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wayfair. And even though some of them haven’t confirmed the dates of their 2026 spring savings events just yet, I can almost guarantee they’re coming: Shoppers expect it at this point, and retailers rely on it to clear shelves.

In this episode of For What It’s Worth, NBC Select editorial director Lauren Swanson and I explain why these sales popped up in the first place and whether they’re actually worth shopping. We also share our favorite saving strategies so your cart’s total is as low as possible.

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Products we recommend during this episode

Orolay Women’s Thickened Down Jacket

Columbia Men’s Ascender Softshell Jacket

Ocoopa Magnetic Rechargeable Hand Warmers

First Aid Beauty KP Bump Eraser Body Scrub

Tarte Blush Tape Liquid Blush

Episode transcript

LAUREN: Welcome back.

ZOE: We’re going to talk about sales today, which is one of my favorite things ever.

LAUREN: One of our favorite things.

ZOE: I mean, if you don’t like a sale, what are you doing? You know what I’m saying? Who doesn’t like saving money?

LAUREN: Yes. When was the last time you bought something full price?

ZOE: I really try not to. I think that, honestly, it’s household essentials that I cannot live without. And I often will wait until I really can’t wait anymore, you know? I will wait until the paper towels on Amazon go on sale, but if I’m literally on my last square, what am I going to do?

LAUREN: Do you ever buy clothes full price?

ZOE: I refuse to buy clothes full price. I will not do it. There are so many sales now, which is the point of this conversation today. There’s more than just the holiday sales. I mean, I feel like every month, there’s something, so I won’t do it. I will wait. For clothes, I really will wait. I just won’t. I just… no.

Speaking of extra sales, that is what I would consider these March sales. I would consider them an additive.

LAUREN: We just were talking about this, where it seems like March has become, or spring, but mostly March, it’s at the end of March, has become a huge moment for retailers to have sales, just in the past couple of years. It started as a trickle, and now it’s full blown. Every retailer at the end of March — because it’s not associated with a holiday like a lot of the sales are. It’s not Presidents Day. It’s not Memorial Day. It’s not Labor Day. It is almost a manufactured-by-retailer sale moment.

ZOE: Which is my favorite type, not to be the biggest nerd on the planet. But you know I love this stuff. I think a manufactured sale is the most interesting type, because you have to have so much momentum as one retailer to lead the charge, and to have all these other retailers be like, Oh no, if we don’t do this too, we’re missing out on internet activity. Because that’s essentially what it is. I think Amazon’s Big Spring Sale was the driver here.

LAUREN: Right, for March.

ZOE: For March. I think that they started the sale, and honestly, people were like, What is this? Should I even shop this? Is this even necessary? But then, once you start to have a sale at a huge retailer like that, all these other retailers — the Targets, the Best Buys, the Wayfairs, whatever — they’re all like, Okay, well, people are going to click on this. They’re going to search for this. They’re going to maybe just start adding things into their cart, because they see things are on sale. And so then, internet activity in general goes up, and if they’re not on the page when someone Googles “March sale” or “spring sale,” they’re missing out on clicks. So I feel like that’s why we’ve started to see the trickle become a rush. And I also think March is an interesting time because you have Presidents Day in February, and then the next big sale is Memorial Day in May. So there’s two reasons why they picked March. From the shoppers’ point of view, that’s a pretty long time for there not to be a major sale and for people to save on quite literally anything on their wish list. But then, from the retailers’ side, Presidents Day — I wouldn’t say that it’s the biggest of the three day holiday weekend sales. I definitely feel like it’s the one that people don’t shop the most. They’re still recovering from the holidays, and kind of it’s kind of an afterthought. I think it’s becoming more prevalent now because people are so desperate to save money.

LAUREN: It’s a lot for mattresses.

ZOE: Yes, for sure.

LAUREN: A lot of those three-day weekend sales are for cars and mattresses.

ZOE: And appliances.

LAUREN: And appliances. Because I think… I don’t actually know. Presidents Day is right before daylight saving time. A lot of people are maybe thinking about their sleep. I don’t know if that’s the connection. I don’t know what the car connection is, but those are primarily the retailers who have been driving those sales moments. Then, you get smaller places, like smaller clothing places, and they’ll promote a 20% off kind of sale over Presidents Day weekend.

ZOE: I think from the retailer’s end, they have to move stuff off their shelves, especially because people weren’t shopping these Presidents Day sales as much as they maybe would a Memorial Day sale. Presidents Day is a clearance moment. They’re like, We need to get all this winter stuff out to start putting spring stuff here. And if they don’t, if they’re not successful at that as much as they would like to be in February, they have to wait until May? No, they can’t. So they have to have something a couple weeks later where you give people a little time to recover if they did shop Presidents Day, or just to realize that, hey, I need something, and then you put that March sale there, and it’s, I feel like, almost a catch up. Almost like, Okay, well, we’re catching up in terms of how much stuff we need to get rid of. We’re going to discount things maybe even more than we did on Presidents Day because now, this is our last chance to get rid of the snowblower. I think things like that, from the retailer’s end, went into their thought process to put the sales in March.

LAUREN: So, with all of that in mind, what would you recommend, being our sales and shopping expert, what would you recommend people actually buy during these spring sales? The Amazon Big Spring Sale, Walmart has one going on, Target has one going on, Wayfair has one going on.

ZOE: And if they haven’t in the past, they will this year, I’m sure of it.

LAUREN: Even if it’s not a marketed sale, likely all of these places will be putting a good amount of stock on a clearance or on a sale page. What would you recommend people actually shop during this time?

ZOE: Let’s actually start with what they wouldn’t shop.

LAUREN: Okay, great. I love it. Process of elimination.

ZOE: Process of elimination, I think that helps. I would not shop for any of the things that you would want to shop during Presidents Day or Memorial Day. I would not shop for mattresses, bedding, appliances. Those big ticket items, furniture also, really save those for marquee moments during a three-day holiday weekend. Because not only do I think, well, I know, that you’ll get lower prices, but also, a retailer is much more willing, during a moment like that, to give you a bundle deal, like buy two appliances, get $1,000 off, or free delivery, free haul-away of your old mattress. You get the perks a little bit more, which makes the deal go further in my opinion. What I would shop for is anything winter related, be it fashion, outdoor supplies, if you need a snow blower, shovels. Any of that kind of stuff that maybe you used this year that you just need a new version of, or, it’s still sometimes a little chilly in March, so you might even use it a little bit this year. Any of that stuff will be, I would say, the lowest prices of the whole sale.

LAUREN: It’s so hard because your brain is so over winter during that time, that you’re like, I don’t want to even dedicate one cent to thinking about winter.

ZOE: And what you could need next year.

LAUREN: You’re like, I want to think about summer. I want to manifest it. I want to manifest spring. I want to manifest new beginnings, out of this cold, shedding my winter coat. But that’s what you should buy.

ZOE: It really is. You should not buy what is seasonal. You should not buy shorts and tank tops and sandals, because really, any of that stuff goes on sale after the season, which is annoying, because it’s not when you need it. But if you’re really trying to think strategically about spending, about budgeting, that’s really the key time to do it. So you would buy all the winter stuff after the snow. You’d buy all the summer stuff after the beach season. So yes, you might need a new pair of flip flops come March. You might be going on vacation in April and what are you going to do? You need it. That, to me, is more of a reason to be really careful. Comparison shop, see who has the lowest prices. Then, I get it. You need the flip flops. What are you going to do? But if you can avoid it, I would wait until we even get to Memorial Day. Because once we get to Memorial Day, it’s spring, and people want to get rid of the cute little sweaters and light pants. They want to really get rid of all of that to make summer stock the moment. So if you can wait a little bit on warm-weather fashion, I would. I really think that it is beneficial. I also think that in these spring sales, sometimes they will discount, especially like a Lowe’s or a Home Depot, gardening stuff. Normally, I would say don’t buy that until the season is over, but because a lot of these places are calling them spring sales, they will discount spring things. And while I wouldn’t go for the fashion, I think outdoor supplies are fine. How much can you actually discount soil in the long run? It’s not going to make the biggest difference if you wait on that gardening stuff versus buying it in March. So that would be my strategy. That would be what I would say is what not to buy and what to buy.

LAUREN: That’s really helpful. I think for a lot of these manufactured sales moments, I’m really trying to not spend too much this year, or be more conscious about my spending. I feel like these manufactured sale moments, specifically the Amazon ones, I use them a lot to stock up on basics and essentials.

ZOE: Yes, listen, if you need dishwasher pods and toilet paper and they’re 20% off, why wouldn’t you buy it?

LAUREN: Yes, and we normally wouldn’t recommend a less than 20 percent off sale, but when it’s basics and essentials and stuff that you’re going to buy anyways, that 20% or so off does make a difference.

ZOE: Yes, because if you are going to need your laundry detergent no matter what, I’d rather save $5 on it than not. And I think in that moment for your household, your pantry essentials, 5 percent even, I’m like, amazing. Anything less I can spend on toothpaste, I’m thrilled. I feel like that’s a win. But if you’re seeing boots for 15 percent off, I’d rethink that.

LAUREN: And one of the things that we do whenever we cover any of these sales, and we obviously recommend that people do this to become smart shoppers, is check the lowest price, but then also check the base price. Because ahead of some of these sales events, and it’s not for every product, not for every brand, not for every retailer, but occasionally you’ll get a manufactured base price increase. So then you could look and see that you’re getting a 5 percent, a 10 percent, a 20 percent discount, but really it’s just going down to what the normal, base price would be. So we always check that to make sure that you’re actually getting a good deal and not getting inflation or scanned or whatever.

ZOE: We do a lot of price checking. I do think this year, we might see more retailers not doing that. I think that people are becoming very smart shoppers…

LAUREN: Great. I love to hear it.

ZOE: I know, it makes me very happy. And I also think that they’re being much more conscious about how much they’re spending, why they’re spending and when. Because there’s a lot of economic and financial instability, and so they are taking every opportunity they can to make sure the value of a sale is there if they’re really going to be spending their limited budget on it. And retailers are really starting to pick up on that, like Amazon has now launched a lot of AI tools within Amazon that track prices, which you used to have to go to an external browser to do. Right now they’re trying to show you — we’re going to be transparent with you about this because a lot of people are starting to do it anyway. So some retailers, Amazon is just on the top of my mind because I was reading about it recently, but I’m sure there’s others that are starting to do that. People are really being much more intentional than they ever have been in this economic environment. And retailers want people to spend money with them. They want people to buy with them. And so in order to do that, they have to stop cutting corners sometimes. So I think we might be surprised. We usually say, Presidents Day sales are not the best and big spring sales are not the best. I don’t know. This year, we might be surprised by the quality because people are being so smart about their shopping, which I’m all for.

LAUREN: Great.

ZOE: I know, I’m into it.

LAUREN: Final thoughts on spring sales?

ZOE: I would say shop them with a list.

LAUREN: As always. I feel like that’s always your recommendation.

ZOE: Yes, please do not start throwing things into your cart. You’re going to regret it. I always regret it when I do that. So go in with the list. Go in with an intention. And know that if, let’s say, you want an air fryer, and the air fryer deals are not great — because, like I said, I don’t think there’s going to be great appliance deals during these spring spring sales — don’t make a compromise. We have Memorial Day coming up. There will be other sales this summer, and if you can just live with your current air fryer for a couple more weeks, it will pay off. So I would say be intentional, set a budget, make a list and just be patient. I know it’s tough, but patience goes a long way.

LAUREN: Well, you heard it here first.

ZOE: Happy Shopping.

LAUREN: Happy Shopping. Bye.

Why trust NBC Select?

I’m a reporter at NBC Select and I co-host our live podcast, For What It’s Worth, with editorial director Lauren Swanson. In this article, I summarize Episode 15: Everything to Know About Shopping Spring Sales. I included a summary of the episode, a transcript, products we recommend during the podcast and related articles.

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