Get Financially Fit! | July Shopper's Guide

There are still some days left in July—find out what you should be buying! Hitha Herzog, Chief Research Officer of H Squared Research, lecturer at Parsons School of Design and author of “Black Market Billions,” shares with us What You Should Buy in July: a Shopper's Guide.

If there were a modern-day bloodsport, summer shopping could be it.

Last year, Americans spent $83 billion on purchases and travel during the summer months, according to the National Retail Federation. That's up from $78 billion in the previous year. Lower gas prices and higher consumer sentiment has fueled the spend fest, but there is something more: the so-called "reputation economy."

"Ninety-two percent of consumers look at review and ratings online before making a purchase decision," says Naveen Gupta, CEO of BirdEye, a reputation-management and customer-experience company. "Retailers realize how fierce the competition is to acquire customers. One way to make them stick and gain customer love is by having competitive prices. The idea is simple: If retailers want to win, they must have [the] best prices, customer experience and reputation."

With so many retailers vying for those customer dollars, it's hard to figure out what you should buy now versus later in the summer. Here's a breakdown of five things you should leap on and wait for.

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