Amazon unveils its Black Friday plans
As more and more companies continue to move their Black Friday sales earlier into Thanksgiving Thursday, Amazon has taken a different approach.
The online retailer announced it would begin offering their holiday shopping season discounts a full week earlier than the traditional Black Friday, with offers starting November 21st and lasting through Black Friday.
To coincide with the bumped up start date, Amazon will be expanding on their popular, year-round "Lightning Deals" by adding new deals as often as "every ten minutes" during the eight days leading up to the actual Black Friday. The company will also be offering "thousands" of limited-time Lightning Deals as well as three special "Deals of the Day" beginning at midnight on Thanksgiving with three more following on Black Friday. Subscribers to the company's premium Prime service will get a 30-minute "head start" on certain "Lightning" deals.
As with the other major retailers, electronics will be a large part of Amazon's plans, with TVs in particular getting some sizable discounts. A few of the notable "doorbuster" deals include a 32-inch LED TV for $79 and a 40-inch 1080p LED TV for $119 (the brands of these TVs are unknown), a Toshiba 50-inch LED TV for $199 and a 55-inch Vizio Smart LED TV for $478. Amazon will also be offering deep discounts on a variety of Samsung TVs including a 40-inch Smart LED TV for $328.
In addition to TVs, bargain hunters will also find deals on a variety of other electronics like a Roku LT streaming box for $28 (usually $40), Beats Studio headphones for $199 (usually $249) and 20% on Intel laptops and 2-in-1s (laptop/tablet hybrids). Amazon will also be extending the discounts to its Android Appstore, offering a bundle version of its "Free App of the Day" featuring $115 worth of some of the top apps and games starting on Thanksgiving and for a "limited time." Hundreds of other apps on the store will either be free or discounted between 50%-90% off.
While there is no word yet on which apps will be discounted or included in the bundle, Amazon does have a track record of offering popular apps and games as part of their daily free-apps promotion. Past offerings have included games like Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies and Fruit Ninja as well as recently offering the popular media-streaming app Plex.
Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal