Consumer Alert: Big box retailers are battling for your summer buck. Here’s how you benefit!

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Today I’m alerting you to the benefits of big box stores battling for your summer buck. It’s official.
Target and Walmart have announced that they’re going to have huge sales the same days as Amazon Prime Day. And they’re both trying to one-up Amazon.

While Amazon’s Prime Day will be June 21 and June 22, Target’s Deal Days will be three days, June 20 through June 22. And not to be outdone, Walmart’s Deals for Days will span four days, June 20 through June 23.

Ultimately, the consumer benefits as the retail giants compete for our business. Here’s what you can expect. Walmart is promising online deals like $50 off a smart LED TV, a $20 discount on an HP chrome book, and half off of a smartwatch for kids.

And of course, Walmart points out that you don’t need a membership to take advantage of their online deals. Target, on the other hand, is promising deals on everything from food to clothes to personal care items.

Experts with Wirecutter say it’s important to compare prices before you click. Nathan Burrow, Wirecutter’s Senior Deals Editor says choosing the best deals out of tens of thousands is a painstaking effort.

We scanned over 47,000 deals and ultimately we only posted about 340 of those. And that’s indicative of any kind of deal event. There’s going to be a lot of things that are presented as deals, but we recommend that you comparison shop, that you make use of things like third party price trackers, and things like that that can help you take an informed approach and identify the real deals among those."

Here’s why doing your own research is so important. The retailers are already posting some of the deals they’re going to have on their deals days. So I did some research for you.

Target is going to sell the iRobot Roomba 675 for $225. The regular price is $280. That’s a good deal, right? But I found the iRobot Roomba 670 on sale at Walmart for $189. And guess what? The 675 and 670 are practically identical. Analysis by Smart Robotic Home found no differences in features and functionality.

The major difference? One was originally released in Europe and the other was released here in the states. So clearly, Walmart has the better deal.

And you don’t know that unless you check before you click. So use these tools:

• Wirecutter – It’s a site that evaluates products and analyzes deals, finding the best products for the best price.
• Camelcamelcamel – It gives you the history of price fluctuations of products on Amazon.
• Google Shopping – It gives you a broad look at product prices across many sites on the web.
• BizRate – Use their price comparison search engine to find the cheapest listing for a product.
• Shopzilla – Put your product in the search engine and find out where to find it and the listed prices.

And remember, Amazon and other sites usually allow you to keep a product in your cart for 15 minutes before it considers the cart “abandoned.” That gives you plenty of time to look for the product in a price comparison search engine to find out if you’re getting the best deal. And that’s your consumer alert.