Power shopping on Black Friday has taken on a new dimension with an increase in Web sites tracking sales, scanning stores ads, and even providing spreadsheets of the best deals around.
Major retailers have gotten in on the act as well. Traditionally, the big stores put out their Black Friday deals in Thanksgiving Day newspapers. But many including Kohl’s, Best Buy, and J.C. Penney, now offer “previews” of some of their biggest deals on their Web sites throughout Thanksgiving week.
“We started seeing this last year, retailers started putting their deals on their Web site early, as a sneak peek of their circulars which come out [Thursday],” said Kathy Grannis, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation.
Around the Web, sites such as bfads.net, blackfriday.gottadeal.com and blackfriday.info have gained popularity as information clearinghouses for the biggest Black Friday deals.
Another, slickdeals.net, hosts an Excel spreadsheet with deals from many major retailers sortable by store, product and price for the truly obsessive power shopper.
However, Grannis cautioned that some national retailers offer different Black Friday specials in different regions, a difference not always reflected on the Web sites.
“Obviously none of these Web sites are endorsed by retailers, they’re kind of misleading in some ways,” she said. “A lot of times, Black Friday advertisements are specific for a region, [the sites] may post an ad that’s only good for NYC and someone in Washington state may be looking at it.”
Electronics deals will again be the most sought-after on the year’s biggest shopping day. According to its Web site, Best Buy will offer a Toshiba 15.4-inch screen laptop with 120 GB of hard drive space for $379, and a 50-inch Panasonic Viera HDTV for $899.
J.C. Penney will offer a five-piece Protocol Portsmouth luggage set for $38.88, while Kohl’s will cut prices on toys by 50 percent, kitchen electronics by 55 to 75 percent, and offer $10 of store credit for every $50 spent in the store or online.
