Talk about extending the holiday shopping season! Black Friday won’t take place for another three weeks—the day after Thanksgiving, specifically. Black Friday is also, quite obviously, a single day. These facts haven’t gotten in the way of one retailer from introducing Black Friday-style sales starting November 1.
The retailer we speak of is Amazon.com. The e-retail giant’s Black Friday deals page went live as of the first of November.
Shoppers visiting Amazon’s BF page, officially called the Countdown to Black Friday Deals Week, can browse a changing array of doorbuster-type “Lightning Deals,” which are typically discounted by more than 50% off retail—but only for a few hours. One Bluetooth audio system originally priced at $180, for instance, was selling for $85 during one “Lightning Deal” window.
(RealSimple.com: Best Days for Holiday and Christmas Online Shopping)
The term “Black Friday” seems to trigger consumers into shopping frenzies. Or at least that’s the assumption made by many retailers. Accordingly, Black Friday and Black Friday-esque sales have grown year after year. In 2010, at least six major retailers hosted sales that included the words “Black Friday” days after the actual Black Friday had ended. Several retailers have also gotten in the habit of launching promotions and sales featuring “Black Friday” days, or even weeks, before Thanksgiving.
This year, Macy’s and Target are expanding Black Friday in a smaller, but still significant way: They’re opening on midnight of Thanksgiving evening, so that Black Friday sales will last a full 24 hours.
(MORE: Increasingly, Black Friday Is a Day to Stay Home, Not Hit the Mall)
If any retailer should logically want to diffuse the power of Black Friday as a single day to shop at brick-and-mortar stores, it’s Amazon. Amazon has no brick-and-mortar stores, after all, so it must approach Black Friday in an especially untraditional way. For years, Amazon has promoted an entire week’s worth of special Black Friday deals at its website, and now, Black Friday-esque deals are popping up at Amazon over the course of an entire month.
Brad Tuttle is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @bradrtuttle. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
MORE: 3 Deals Aimed at Attracting Shoppers for the Entire Holiday Season