This year, if you wait until Black Friday--traditionally one of the most frenzied shopping days of the year--to score some spectacular savings on holiday electronics and tech buys, you may have waited too long.
Several retailers, notably Best Buy, Newegg, and Sears, already have started their Black Friday specials. Many retailers are placing more emphasis on daily deals well ahead of November 26, the great traditional shopping day after Thanksgiving.
Hunting down the holiday bargains can be worthwhile. Analysts told PCWorld earlier this month that the greatest savings this year are likely to be found for HDTVs, especially in the 50- to 55-inch category; Blu-ray players and movies; laptops but not netbooks, and possibly e-book readers.
Black Friday Overload?
We may already be on Black Friday overload, however. Daniel de Grandpre, of the deal site DealNews, says: "With Black Friday sales, ad leaks, and announcements [that started] as early as September, there's no question that retailers run the risk of overusing the term "Black Friday" and causing shoppers to tune out."
However, Kathy Grannis of the National Retail Federation (NRF), which represents retail sellers, disagrees.
"Shoppers won't let retailers get off so easy as to not wow them on the actual Black Friday," says Grannis. "Black Friday is the one day of the year that retailers have no choice but to pull out all the stops, and we expect that to be the same this year."