Here’s a roundup of resources for the best deals, along with some perspective, related to the monster shopping day that is Black Friday.
$0 Cost of standard shipping for many online purchases made through the holiday season at Walmart, Amazon, L.L. Bean, and other major retailers.
$0 Amount of money that will be spent by consumers on Friday, November 26, who are participating in Buy Nothing Day, an anti-consumer, no-spending day that just so happens to fall on the same day as Black Friday.
0:00 Time of day on Friday—a.k.a. midnight on Thanksgiving evening—when retail centers such as the Tanger Outlets and Premium Outlets open their doors to shoppers. Last year, Toys R Us also opened at midnight on Thanksgiving night, but in 2010, its stores will open even earlier, with a “24-hour savings extravaganza” starting at 10 p.m. on Turkey Day.
3:00 The ungodly time on Friday not-quite-morning when Kohl’s stores open, an hour earlier than slackers such as Macy’s and J.C. Penney. Why not just stop fooling around and open at midnight, or on Thanksgiving itself, like Walmart, Kmart, and Sears? A Kohl’s exec told the WSJ:
“Somebody else is chasing a dollar? Let ’em do it,” says Kevin Mansell, chief executive of Kohl’s Corp. “I think our associates, and frankly our customers, deserve time with their families and that’s what Thanksgiving is about.”
Want time with your family (or your bed) at 3 a.m. after Thanksgiving? You’re out of luck.
3 Current ranking of an app called TGI Black Friday on the iPhone free app list.
$3 The tiny “door buster” asking price of many small home appliances at Target on Black Friday.
$5 Max price of all items at Five Below, which on Black Friday includes Wii games and MP3 players for $5, and Harry Potter DVDs for $2.99.
6.4 Percentage of all holiday shopping sales that occurs on Black Friday.
12 to 14 The number of hours in a row spent at stores by some Black Friday-aholic shoppers.
24 Percentage of Americans who actually do plan on shopping on Black Friday, per a Consumer Reports poll.
83 Consumer interest in Black Friday ads, as measured by online searches, is up 83% compared to last year, with the rise due in part to the fact that so many ads have been leaked to the public—perhaps intentionally so.
300 Approximate number of electronics listed in Gizmodo’s Ultimate Black Friday Cheat Sheet, which helpfully ranks each and every Black Friday offer for computers, home appliances, phones, and more as either “Bad deal – better prices to be found,” “Good deal – in line with the best prices,” or “Great deal – best price anywhere.”
$343 The amount spent by the average shopper over Black Friday weekend last year.
$343 Easily the amount you could save by not shopping this weekend. Perhaps, instead you might use the time to search your home for books, DVDs, and other items you could swap online, as one blogger suggests.
$2 million A low-end estimate for the amount spent by Walmart to fight a $7,000 fine related to an incident on Black Friday 2008, when a 6’5″, 270-pound temp worker was trampled to death by shoppers at a Walmart in Long Island.
$292 million The difference between what consumers spent in physical stores on Black Friday 2009 and what they spent in online purchases on last year’s Cyber Monday, with Cyber Monday coming out on top.
Read more:
20 Best Black Friday Deals: Why You Might Want to Get Up Early and Fight the Crowds
Holiday Spending by the Numbers
Shopping Before, During, and After Thanksgiving Dinner
Black Friday Overload: Wait, Which Fridays Aren’t Black Now?