Black Friday 2020 is getting closer. The biggest shopping event of the year and the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season are just around the corner. However, the 2020 event will be a little different this year. In fact, it will be very different for consumers who are used to shopping in traditional brick and mortar retail stores.
Continue reading: Black Friday versus Amazon Prime Day
In this article, we’ll go into when Black Friday 2020 will officially begin. We’ll also show how this date has slowly gotten old-fashioned when it comes to when deep discounts are actually offered. We’ll also show how the current coronavirus outbreak and the resulting slower economic situation will force retailers to make even more changes for the event. Finally, we will offer our predictions about what types of offers and discounts we can find during Black Friday 2020. This includes some discounts on products that you can take advantage of right now.
When is Black Friday 2020?
The event will officially take place on Friday, November 27th. If you want to know more about the history of the Black Friday event, check out our article at the link below:
Continue reading: What is Black Friday?
What can I expect from the event this year?
As mentioned earlier, in brick-and-mortar stores that have seen less traffic in recent years, even fewer buyers are expected for the event in 2020. This, of course, is because the coronavirus threat will keep a lot of people not going out at all. Hence, online sales, which have seen explosive growth on Black Friday in recent years, will almost certainly see even greater sales growth for the 2020 event.
In recent years, Deep Black Friday discounts have expanded beyond the traditional “Friday after Thanksgiving” date. They sometimes started online up to a week in advance. Now, many retailers have announced that they will be offering Black Friday-style discounts in November.
What did retailers announce for the event before and during Black Friday 2020?
Amazon held its big Prime Day sales event back in early October. However, it has kicked off its Holiday Deals event with deep daily discounts on a variety of products, including Amazon’s own hardware devices. We should get more information about the retailer’s more specific Black Friday plans very soon.
Another big retailer, Walmart, has announced plans for three big deal events ahead of the traditional Black Friday period. The company calls it Black Friday Deals for Days. All events start online at Walmart.com and are available in retail stores a few days later.
Here is the current schedule of Walmart sales events for the month-long Black Friday event
- First event – Online November 4 at 7 p.m. ET. More listings go online Nov 7 at 12 p.m. ET and in stores at 5 p.m., local time
- Second event – Online November 11th at 7 p.m. ET. More listings go online Nov. 14 at 12 p.m. ET and in stores at 5 p.m., local time
- Third event – Online on November 25th at 7 p.m. (CET). Additional offers will be available in stores on November 27th at 12 noon (CET) and at 5 a.m. (local time)
Best Buy also announced early sales which are currently live. The event is known as preparation for the holidays. Black Friday discounts are currently available for many products.
Target has announced that it will start deep Black Friday-style discounts on November 1st. These offers will go live throughout the month.
Other major retailers like Costco, Sam’s Club, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Lowes, Gamestop, and many more are also expected to launch much earlier than normal pre-Black Friday deals.
What products are likely to be offered at large discounts during the event?
If you bought products with big discounts during Amazon’s Prime Day event in October (along with other retailers during the same period), you can assume that the same will happen during Black Friday sales events. These include huge price reductions on large screen televisions, audio products, tablets, laptops, streaming video devices, smartphones, and much more. Smart home products, and smart office devices in particular, are likely to continue selling at discounted prices this year as more people work from home or go to school.
Since Black Friday marks the start of the traditional Christmas shopping season, you can expect more emphasis on toy discounts for the kids. Video games and game consoles are also likely to receive huge discounts as well. This year will be more interesting as both Microsoft and Sony are launching new game consoles in November (Xbox Series X and S and Playstation 5, respectively). While we don’t expect these consoles to get any discounts during Black Friday, retailers could bundle them with some free games. We also expect big discounts on current generation consoles and games.
Finally, we can expect some streaming services to offer discounts or special trial offers during the event.
What if something I buy before Black Friday drops in price later in November?
Many retailers already offer options to give customers price guarantees. For example, Best Buy lets customers know that they really need to sign up for the retailer’s My Best Buy rewards service. If those members purchase a product for sale and the price of that product drops before November 28th, they will get the price difference back.
Target is also offering a price guarantee from November 1st to December 24th. If you buy a product called the Black Friday Deal during this time and then the price goes down on Target’s website or on Target.com, the retailer will give you the difference back.
In general, you should check to see if the retailer you are buying a Black Friday labeled store from has a price guarantee if the price of that product goes down.
Are there currently any early Black Friday 2020 deals?
Yes! As mentioned earlier, Amazon and Best Buy have already launched big discounts for early Black Friday. Here is just one example:
Amazon
Best buy
That’s our take on Black Friday 2020. We’ll be updating this article with more information on the massive Christmas sales event in the coming days and weeks.