Black Friday Preview 2014

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Retailers are pessimistic about what this Christmas will bring them. They’re expecting a lump of coal, which means that you’ll get the deals!

Here’s a look at the best Black Friday deals

This year is shaping up to be one of noteworthy deals. Below is a quick look at what you can expect, courtesy of DealNews.com. (They even have a page dedicated solely to the Amazon deals.)

  • Panasonic 50′ 1080p LED LCD HDTV for $200 at Best Buy
  • Toshiba 50′ LED LCD HDTV for $199 at Amazon
  • Asus Intel Laptop for $100 at Staples
  • Element 40′ 1080p LED LCD HDTV for $119 at Target
  • 32′ LED LCD HDTV for $79 at Amazon
  • Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD On-Ear Headphones for $79.99 at Best Buy
  • Predator Generators 8,750W 13HP Gas Generator for $550 at Harbor Freight Tools
  • iPad Mini 16GB with WiFi $199.99 at Walmart (includes $30 Walmart gift card free with purchase)

Walmart’s deal strategy for Black Friday

We’re now in full tilt bargain season, with both Walmart and Target coming out with guns blazing. In a surprise reversal, Walmart will now price match Walmart.com, as well as other onlines sellers too. If you’ve been following me in recent weeks, you know I had my own experience with their unusual pricing strategy over the summer. Walmart’s aim is to undercut other players in the same orbit.

In addition, Walmart has announced their intent to stretch out the discount period for Black Friday over 5 days.

The brilliance of Walmart’s strategy in spreading out the deals is that you’ll now have to go to the store not once, but 2, 3, or 4 times to get the deals you want!

Webrooming at center of retail’s 4-way battle royale

This year will be very ‘promotional,’ as retailers like to say, in the toy aisle; perhaps the most promotional Christmas season since the depths of the financial crisis in 2008.

What’s driving the competition? Four factors: Toys R Us, Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

Toys R Us has been the longtime heavyweight in toys, but they’re looking for a reason to survive and exist after having been pigeonholed as a hyper-expensive place to shop. So expect them to do steep markdowns and offer very aggressive pricing this coming holiday season

The reality is Target and Walmart have become the new champs of lower cost toy selling. They both tend to expand the square footage they have devoted to toys during the season. Amazon, meanwhile, wants in on this game. So Toys R Us is facing some tough competition this year.

You’ve probably heard about showrooming—using your smartphone to comparison shop when you’re in a store and find a better deal somewhere other than the physical store where you’re at. But this year it’s about ‘webrooming.’

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Webrooming is when you shop on the web to locate the best price before you go out and buy that item in a traditional store.

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