This series is designed to bring together a variety of shorter, readily available podcasts to introduce a topic from recent headlines and inspire discussion

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events usually signal the kick-off to the holiday shopping season for many consumers. With supply chain issues and a decrease in in-store shopping, both retailers and consumers are approaching the shopping season differently this year, many starting much earlier.

Here are some 2-4 minute Marketplace podcasts discussing these headlines.

• 11/19 Marketplace Shop owners rush, like their customers, to shop for the holidays early
• 11/26 Marketplace Consumers, worried about the economy, keep spending anyway
• 11/29 Marketplace How will traditional holiday sales days fare this year?

Here are some Marketplace minute podcasts

• 11/29 Midday Report Cyber Monday expected to have few discounts and little growth
• 12/1 Closing Bell retail surveys suggest low inventories are holding back sales
• 12/10 Morning Briefing Costco reports many toys and seasonal items won’t make it in by Christmas

Assignment:

Determine how much time you want to devote to this activity, and select podcasts to provide students with background information. 

Have students then tackle these discussion questions. This can be done individually, in groups, or as a class. 

1. How have you (or your friends/family) approached the holiday shopping season?
2. As more consumers have spread their spending over more than just a few days and retailers have started their sales earlier, do you think big sales days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday will continue in the future?
3. How do you think supply chain problems for big-ticket items (ex: furniture or cars) have impacted consumer spending on small-ticket items?

If you use this assignment in your class, please let us know how it went!

About the Authors

Beth Tallman

Beth Tallman entered the working world armed with an MBA in finance and thoroughly enjoyed her first career working in manufacturing and telecommunications, including a stint overseas. She took advantage of an involuntary separation to try teaching high school math, something she had always dreamed of doing. When fate stepped in once again, Beth jumped on the opportunity to combine her passion for numbers, money, and education to develop curriculum and teach personal finance at Oberlin College. Beth now spends her time writing on personal finance and financial education, conducts student workshops, and develops finance curricula and educational content. She is also the Treasurer of Ohio Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.