Presidents Day promotions--sales pitch or real deal?

If you’re wondering whether Presidents’ Day promotions are purely a sales pitch–when it comes to shopping for clothing online, price reductions are the real deal.

President's Day Sales: The Best Days of the Year to Shop

According to Shop It To Me’s data, Presidents’ Day ranks second just behind Labor Day as the best holiday to grab the steepest online sales on apparel. Here’s how the holiday discounts stacked up in 2011:

Labor Day–48.4% off

Presidents Day–46.7% off

Columbus Day–45.2% off

New Year’s Day–44.2% off

Independence Day–43.5% off

Memorial Day — 42% off

In fact, Presidents’ Day deals even outpaced Black Friday (42.1% off) and Cyber Monday (41.1% off).

February overall is one of the best months of the year to find great deals online (particularly for certain categories), and the average online discount for the month was 45.6% (compared to an average of 44% for the full year).

Six of the top 24 sale days of 2011 fell in February. The deepest markdowns were available in the days leading up to Presidents’ Day.

47.2% off on the Saturday before Presidents’ Day;

46.9% off on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before;

46.8% off on the day before (Sunday)

So, although February is short and sweet, it may be the top month to shop, particularly Presidents Day weekend!

Methodology: Shop It To Me, the free online personal shopper, analyzed over 693,000 markdowns throughout 2011 available from over 150+ online retailers.