Posted inTechnology

Many of these Cyber Monday deals are better than Black Friday

November 14, 2022

We’ve rounded up all the best early Black Friday deals as of Nov. 7 during the lead up to Cyber Monday — here are our top picks:

For better or for worse, Black Friday looks a lot different now than it does pre-pandemic.

This year, we’ve unlocked a new fiasco to navigate as we shop for the holidays: inflation. But if there’s anything retailers have learned since 2020, it’s how to provide cushion for shoppers who are budgeting extra hard during these tight times. Mostly, that looks like stretching Black Friday deals across the entire month of November — in some cases, a little bit of October, too.

Below, you’ll find a complete list of all the holiday doorbusters that are live right now (with sales grouped by retailer, category, and brand). We continue to update this post as more deals pop up throughout the weeks leading up to actual Black Friday, but don’t hold out too long if something on your shopping list is enjoying a discount — most retailers are saying screw it and putting a “Black Friday price” badge on items now.

The best early Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals at each retailer

Best Buy

The electronics store’s official Black Friday sale technically began on Oct. 24, nearly a month ahead of its 2021 kickoff on Nov. 19. That October announcement also details how Best Buy is planning to offer Black Friday deals “almost every week” until its main event in November. Any current deals at Black Friday prices will be clearly marked as such, and if anything you bought there earlier this month happens to be cheaper today, you’ll get a refund under the Black Friday Price Guarantee.

Walmart

The big box store is once again reviving its popular Black Friday Deals for Days event from 2020, this time dropping new deals every Monday in November. Each event kicks off at 7 p.m. ET and continues into stores a few days later, though Walmart+ members get access beginning at noon that day — crucial leverage for items that are at risk of selling out. Walmart will go out with a bang with one final Cyber Monday event on Nov. 28.

Amazon

Jeff Bezos and co. do not rest. Less than two weeks after its second Prime Day of the year, Amazon began rolling out early Black Friday deals on TVs, air fryers, beauty tech, and of course, Amazon devices. You can see what’s up for grabs by visiting its daily deals page, installing its mobile app, or asking your smart home device, “Alexa, what are my deals?” Like in previous years, it pays to be an Amazon Prime member: Subscribers get 30-minute early access to select Lightning Deals, which go quickly once they’re live; click here to sign up for a free 30-day trial.

Target

Target had Black Friday on the brain earlier than any of the other major retailers, cutting the virtual ribbon on its Black Friday sale on Oct. 10. Since then, deals have been switching in and out of the official “Black Friday deals” section. Target’s Holiday Price Match Guarantee ensures that you’ll get the lowest price possible even if it happens to disappear between now and Dec. 24.

We’ll be adding more great deals to this story as more sales info is released.

The holiday shopping calendar has been shifting, but 2022 is the most intense example so far

Anyone who would appreciate it if Halloween could live out the entirety of its season in peace (damn it) will be the first to tell you that holiday shopping feels like it starts earlier and earlier every year. Black Friday-worthy deals start trickling in around mid-October, and the inbox cramming levels up from there until stores begin officially announcing deals with Black Friday and holiday terminology around early November.

It always feels a bit preemptive, like those neighbors who insist on putting up their Christmas lights while the trees are still green. But 2022’s fall frenzy was more intense than what we’ve seen in recent years. Things kicked off when Target revived its Deal Days event from Oct. 6 to 8 (complete with a Holiday Price Match Guarantee) which rolled nicely into its almost two-month-long Black Friday sale that went live on Oct. 10.

Days later on Oct. 12 and 13, Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale hit. A second Prime Day in all but name, the Prime Early Access Sale (PEAS) was technically meant to give shoppers a super head start on holiday shopping and featured some of Amazon’s lowest prices of the year. Naturally, Best Buy and Walmart held similar sales to compete. At this point, modern Black Friday is a full season in its own right.

Inflation could make for a more frugal Black Friday

The volatility of item inventory, shipping times, and other supply chain-related chaos didn’t necessarily stop people from spending big in 2021. The National Retail Federation found that holiday sales between November and December grew over 14 percent compared to 2020 (findings in line with predictions from earlier that fall) despite slower December-specific sales due to, you guessed it, an earlier and more spread-out sale season.

While pickles should be easier to find than a Playstation 5s this year, consumers are now working around the fallout of another fuzzy economical mess — one with an even more direct effect on their wallets.

Inflation has been responsible for jacked-up prices on just about everything since spring 2022, leaving folks spending more than they’re used to on daily necessities like gas and groceries. For now, peak inflation seems to be behind us. But between holiday traveling, feeding guests, and of course, gifting, it’s likely that folks may stay in that frugal state of mind throughout the next few months.

This could mean more intentional Black Friday spending: more hunting for deals on essentials that you’d have to buy anyway and fewer impulse buys. Amazon’s October Prime Day gave us a glimpse of how hard (or not) shoppers may be willing to go this holiday season. Data compiled by Numerator, a consumer insights firm, indicates that people didn’t go as balls to the wall as they have in the past — that might be because 79% of PEAS shoppers had inflation on the brain. While one in three still hit “add to cart” on a specific item they’d been waiting to get discounted, a fourth of people ditched really good deals “because it wasn’t a necessity.”

Amazon’s Back-to-School campaign, which spoke to budget-conscious shoppers by confirming that, yes, it’s fine to buy the cheapest notebook for your kid, also alluded to the fact that retailers are aware of where customers want savings this year. While TVs and robot vacuums will undoubtedly still be Black Friday hits, we could see more doorbuster deal spots given to smaller, more essential purchases.

Mapping out a game plan now will help you avoid them when they inevitably crop up in the coming weeks. Here are all the must-know details you can use to strategize:

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is a shopping holiday that takes place every year on the day right after Thanksgiving. It used to be synonymous with viral fistfights and stampedes and lines that stretched around city blocks before 3 a.m., but in recent years has become more of an online event.

When is Black Friday?

While Black Friday proper falls on Nov. 25 in 2022, most stores began rolling out their holiday doorbusters in October and early November.

Black Friday versus Cyber Monday — what’s the difference?

The National Retail Federation officially coined the term “Cyber Monday” in 2005 after it noticed that in previous years, the Monday after Thanksgiving saw a massive uptick in online sales. It credited the phenomenon to two factors: Online retailers were starting to vie for a piece of the Black Friday pie, and shoppers were waiting to peruse the deals on their faster work computers come Monday morning. (At the time, office PCs had better broadband than home setups.)

Last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales effectively bled together since in-person shopping wasn’t really a thing. We’ll almost certainly see that repeat this year.