The Thanksgiving holiday weekend will always be the time of greatest buying. It used to be that Black Friday was considered the beginning of the holiday sales season, but it is actually getting earlier with some stores having their deals on Thanksgiving Day itself. Then after the holiday weekend is through, the tradition of Cyber Monday begins where consumers go online to find the best deals around. The tradition of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is beginning to bleed together, with many retailers having deals going on constantly around this time period.
However, the biggest question for consumers is "when is the best time to buy". This would depend on what you are buying. If you head over to the Deal News site, you can find some an interesting graph detailing when to buy what it is that you want ranging from Android phones, cameras, headphones, iPhones, speakers, TVs, iPads/tablets, laptops, toys, movies/music/books, as well as other categories.
A quite glance of this graph reveals that most of the best deals can be found on Thanksgiving Day. It is almost as if the stores are rewarding the consumer for postponing their traditional turkey dinner to be at their stores. However, there also plenty of reasons to stay at home, because a lot of the deals offered in brick-and-mortar stores are actually offered online at identical prices.
As for Black Friday, consumers should keep their eye out for "Doorbusters". This is probably where you are going to find the best deals for the season. Of course, most of these sales are limited to the space of a few hours.
Once the weekend is over with, and those sales happen, it is time to begin Cyber Monday, which is now encompassing the entire week after Thanksgiving. For example, Target is focusing on having Cyber Week, but this does not officially begin until Sunday, November 30th, 2014. Wal-Mart is also planning on having their own version of Cyber Week, which will begin on Saturday, November 29th 2014.
So what store should you shop at, and when? It is highly recommended that you find each megastores' ads, and come up with your own buying timetable to find the best deal. The following are some major Black Friday offers that will occur even before Black Friday officially begins.
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is planning their Black Friday sales in three different Events. Event 1 ads starts at 6PM and promises nine 1-hour guarantee items that are in stock, or promise that you can get it by Christmas at the Black Friday price. Event 2 begins 8 PM with more savings, and then the official Black Friday sale is Event 3, kicking off at 6 A.M. on Friday with 30 percent off select items from 6 AM to noon.
The Event 1 items with a 1-hour guarantee include:
- 50" Class LED HDTV for $218 ($180 savings)
- Vizio 65" Class Smart LED HDTV for $648 ($350 savings)
- Apple iPad Mini 16GB with Wi-Fi for $199 with a $30 Walmart Gift Card ($70 value)
- Xbox One Halo "The Master Chief Collection" Bundle for $329 with a $30 Walmart Gift Card
- RCA 7" Google Play Wi-Fi Tablet for $29 (special buy)
- Samsung Galaxy Ace Style on Straight Talk Wireless for $29 ($100 savings)
- LG Blu-ray Disc Player for $35 (special buy)
- Beats by Dr. Dre Wireless Headphones for $149 ($130 savings)
- HP Intel Celeron Touch Laptop for $249 (special buy)
Best Buy
Their Thanksgiving sales starts on Thanksgiving at 5 PM, then Black Friday begins with these deals:
- Panasonic 50-inch Class LED 1080p for $199.99
- 55 Class LED 4K Ultra HD Smart TV for $899.99
- Pad Air 2 - $100 off all sizes with sales prices starting at $399.99
- Select DVDs like Maleficient, How to Train Your Dragon 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and The Big Bang Theory Season 7 for a low price of $9.99
- Insignia 29-inch Class LED 720p HTV for $99.99
- Sony Streaming Wi-Fi Built-in Blu-ray Disc Player for $49.99, save $70
- iPhone 6 - $99 with trade of any iPhone.
- iPod touch - $50 off
- Beats Solo HD - $79.99 - Save $90
- Beats Headphones - 10-40% off
- MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch - $200 off
- MacBook Air 11-inch - $120 off
- MacBook Air 13-inch $150 off
- iMac 21.5-inch - $200 off
- Surface 2 - $299.99 - Save $150
- Select Xbox One & PS4 Games - $20, $25, $30
- Xbox One with Kinect, Assassin's Creed Unity, Assassin's Creed Black Flag & Extra Controller - $429
- Xbox One Assassin's Creed Bundle - $329 without Kinect
- PS4 with GTA 5, The Last of Us Remastered - $399
- $20 to $25 off Xbox One & PS4 controllers
Target
With Doorbusters at 6PM on Thanksgiving day and online sales on Thanksgiving morning, look to Target for savings far before Black Friday. Of course, they have their share of deals then as well.
- Beats Solo HD Headphones for $97, save $73
- iPad mini 3 with Wi-Fi 16GB for $399, comes with free $100 Target Gift Card
- iPad Air 16GB with Wi-Fi for $399, comes with free $100 Target Gift Card
- Vizio 39 inch class 720p 60Hz LED HDTV for $219, save $130.
- $329 Xbox One Deal with Two Games plus $50 gift Card
- PS4 with Two Games for $399
- Select video games for 50% off.
