Black Friday changes to prevent COVID-19 outbreak
November 6, 2020
Black Friday— one of the most recognizable days of the year— has been “cancelled” for stores around the U.S. To avoid large crowd gathering inside stores, Black Friday has been spread out through the month of November.
“This year, several retailers are expanding Black Friday to fill all of November and it’s a great thing for shoppers,” Tercius Bufete, Deals Editor for Insider’s reviews team, said. “If you’re worried about shipping delays, you can start shopping earlier and get your holiday gifts delivered sooner. Instead of one weekend of deals, shoppers peruse a daily selection of markdowns at their leisure.”
Walmart recently announced their reinvention of Black Friday as “Black Friday Deals for Days.” Instead of a single-savings day, three different savings events are spread out through November. According to the Walmart website, the first event began Nov. 4 on walmart.com and new deals will roll out Nov. 7 online and in stores. The second savings event will begin Nov. 11 online with more deals coming out Nov. 14 online and in stores. The third savings event begins Nov. 25 online with more deals on Nov. 27 online and in stores.
Walmart isn’t the only store reinventing Black Friday. Although Amazon hasn’t released a Black Friday advertisement, the Holiday Dash event has begun giving deals similar to Black Friday.
“Think of Amazon’s Holiday Dash event like Prime Day— but for an entire month ahead of Black Friday,” Bufete said. “During Amazon’s Holiday Dash, there are two types of sales to pay attention to: daily deals and weeklong sales.”
Daily deals are only around for the day and have a limited stock. The weeklong sales, however, are for larger or more expensive items, such as cameras. This event ends Nov. 19, the week prior to Black Friday.
Target, another major retailer, has also decided to spread Black Friday out over the month. As stated on the Target website, “It’s Black Friday all month with new deals each week.”
Target’s Black Friday deals for the upcoming week can be previewed every Thursday through Saturday for those who like to plan ahead. These sneak peaks can be found on target.com.
Although Black Friday has substantially changed to fit COVID-19 precautions, the deals can still be found— not only in stores, but online throughout the month of November.
