Procrastinate and Save This Christmas

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TheStreet) — Let all the rubes and suckers slug it out during the holiday season — it's the post-holiday shoppers who get all the spoils.

According to the National Retail Federation, 10% of holiday sales occur in the week after Christmas, with an American Express (Stock Quote: AMEX) survey finding that same share of shoppers holding out for post-holiday deals. Consumer Reports says 4% of shoppers won't even finish their gift-getting until after Christmas. For them, the waning moments of 2009 will hold not just bargain-priced gift wrap, turkey and candy canes, but deeply discounted TVs, MP3 players, refrigerators and ottomans. Just don't expect it to be like 2008, when Consumer Reports said 44% of Americans hit the stores between Christmas and New Year's as prices plummeted faster than the ball in Times Square.

"You're not going to be seeing a repeat of after-holiday last year," says Ellen Davis, vice president of the National Retail Federation. "You're not going to be seeing 60% or 80% off the whole store."

Forgive Davis if her words echo those of pundits heading into Black Friday and the rest of the holiday season. There were deals then, and with a greater-than-expected 28% of shoppers handing out gift cards this year, the following items could provide big payoffs for procrastinators this year:

Televisions

About 40% of shoppers told Consumer Reports they were trying to buy more practical items this holiday season. We'll see how that holds up after Christmas, when televisions and appliances get cheaper to make way for the arrival of new models in the spring. While prices of ranges, ovens and refrigerators can drop by hundreds of dollars during this period, you can't play Microsoft's (Stock Quote: MSFT) Xbox or watch Julia & Julia on the overwhelming majority of them (love the fridge TVs).

Retailers haven't hinted at their post-holiday offerings as of yet, but if a TV is on the low end of the features spectrum (mid-sized, 720p resolution, inferior or nonexistent PC or Internet connectivity), there's a good chance it's getting shipped off to the island of misfit toys.