Does it pay to do your holiday shopping early?

Holiday shopping has been pushed earlier and earlier — even into July if you listen to die-hard Amazon Prime Day shoppers. But with about five weeks until Christmas, don’t sweat it.

Maybe you don’t have to shop early to shop smart.

Some people study deals year-round, and we talked to two of them: Consumer Reports deals editor Samantha Gordon and DealNews consumer analyst Julie Ramhold.

Gordon and Ramhold have some good news if you fret about how to time your purchases to get the lowest price. They say we’re not going to see prices change that much between now and Christmas.

“More and more, prices aren’t fluctuating like they used to,” said Gordon. “Last year, we had Black Friday prices in October, and they never went away, maybe ticked up slightly. . . . The same thing is happening this year.”

“Some people still think: This item is going to be lower at the end of November and I’ll wait,” Ramhold said. “That’s just not the case anymore.”

Ramhold offers some evidence. Target has made a big deal of its price-match offer good from Oct. 22 to Dec. 24.

“That suggests to me it’s a good assumption that these prices are as low as they will go because they don’t want their store associates to be inundated with price-match refund requests,” Ramhold said.

RETAIL STRATEGY

For big-ticket items such as video game consoles, laptops and smart-home devices, “it makes sense from a business standpoint to lower the price from the start and that’s that,” Ramhold said.

Target and Walmart, with its new and nostalgic Mean Girls TV ads, were already using the “Black Friday” term weeks ago. So were Home Depot, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Best Buy, Wayfair, Michaels and Sur La Table.

And before the pandemic, retailers started putting their best Black Friday deals online early. That’s not going away.

THE HOTTEST TOYS

Sometimes the best price is not the biggest concern. For example,

if it makes the “hottest toy” lists, get it this coming week. “You don’t want it to sell out, so pay a little more now,” Ramhold said.

Gordon also advised shoppers to not consider the price tag alone. “If it’s $10 cheaper at Best Buy than Target, but you have to drive farther and burn more gasoline, it’s not worth it,” she said

What about Black Friday “doorbusters”?

“Oh there will be some the week of Thanksgiving,” Ramhold said. “But they will be available online the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.”

Also, pay attention to free “bonus” or “reward” cards with purchases this time of year, she said. They may expire, but gift cards don’t.

Technology has changed Black Friday shopping. Many of the popular Black Friday pre-ads are online now on the retailers’ websites and at blackfriday.com.

Google searches reveal prices across retailers and so do price tracking extensions.

The hunt has changed, but the hunt can still be fun.