ShareWill you venture out to shop on Black Friday?
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Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, and with finances tight for many Americans, the deals will be more important this year than ever.
The holiday sales day has expanded beyond a single day, however. While 28 percent of Americans polled by Consumer Reports said they plan to shop on Nov. 27, an additional 29 percent plan to shop on the weekend after, as retailers push many of their sales beyond the one-day event.A key to successful Black Friday shopping is putting a little research and planning into being at the deals you want the most at the right time. And your computer should be the first stop."Most of these deals, you can get online on Thanksgiving," advises Jon Vincent, founder of BlackFriday.info, one of the first sites created to offer Black Friday ads before the retailer publishes them. As of Thursday, the Web site had Black Friday ads for more than 45 retailers from Ace Hardware to Walgreens, with more added daily. It also had a special tab for Black Friday deals offered by retailers online, noting that these items sell out quickly. Vincent said he will update the page throughout the day and night on Thanksgiving and said shoppers should check it regularly because new sales pop up.This is the third year most retailers are offering most of their Black Friday sales online on Turkey Day, Vincent said. In addition, consumers should look online for deals that will be offered only through virtual stores, he said.While some of the deepest discounts, called door busters, may not be available online, your chances of grabbing one of those deals at the brick-and-mortar store might also be slim, said Michael Brim, founder of BFads.net, another pioneer in providing the ads ahead of their publication."I wouldn’t expect much inventory for door buster deals," he said. "Across the board right now, retailers have less in stock for sale items."Indeed, some ads are even sharing in fine print that there will be only two or three items available at their door buster prices, said Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org, a noncommercial consumer resource guide."Don’t imagine they have dozens and dozens," he warned. "If you’re not one of the first ones in, you’re not going to get it. And these deals won’t have rain checks."Many stores like Walmart will price match other Black Friday discounts — not including door busters — Dworsky said. Be sure to bring the Black Friday ad with you to show the store what the price is elsewhere before you ask for a match.Black Friday watchers say the deals are pretty good this year."The retailers are all being aggressive and going against each other this year, and that’s great for consumers," Vincent said. "So far I like the Black Friday sales better than last year."Some major retailers have expanded the Black Friday sales concept way beyond the day itself to include Friday and weekend sales throughout November, Brim said.
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