Going into the Labor Day weekend, WalletHub reached out to several experts to seek their advice on on how best to save during the spate of sales offered over the holiday weekend, and on other matters.

Bowdoin Assistant Professor of Economics Dan Stone shared his thoughts about the strategies behind retailers’ sales. Stores often mark down the goods most in demand this time of year, such as school supplies.

“It’s counter-intuitive to an economist that the goods in high demand would be the most discounted…but I think it’s understood now that firms usually do this so the discounted goods will be loss leaders, and get consumers in the door to buy other things at relatively higher prices,” Stone said.