In a bid to capture the first rush of holiday shoppers, Amazon has opened an online store for Black Friday offers 22 days before the national shopping event is scheduled to take place.
Many online retailers won't post their offers until Cyber Monday, which takes place the Monday following Thanksgiving. But many will go ahead and post their offers on Black Friday to compete with brick-and-mortar retailers, several of whom -- including Target, Macy's and Kohl's -- opened their stores to shoppers at midnight on Black Friday last year in an effort to beat out the competition.
Retailers are discounting earlier to meet consumer demand. According to recent Google research, shoppers plan to spend more money ($900 vs. an average of $854 last season) and start shopping earlier this year than in years past. Online retailers should benefit especially: According to eMarketer’s estimates, Americans will spend $54.5 billion online this holiday, excluding travel — an increase of 16.8 percent from 2011. These sales will make up nearly a quarter of all U.S. retail ecommerce sales for the year.
Amazon opened its Black Friday store on Nov. 1 last year as well. The retailer plans to offer a steeper round of discounts during "Black Friday Deals Week" beginning 19 days from now.
The Black Friday store features a rotating Deal of the Day, the first of which is a series of discounts on Joss Whedon DVDs and Blu-rays, including the complete collection of Firefly. There's also a carousel of "Lightning Deals" some of which, like an 8.5-oz container of "green superfood," don't strike us as all that gift-worthy.
Amazon promises that between now and Black Friday, the following items will be discounted:
Panasonic VIERA ST50 Plasma TVs and E50 LED TVs
Samsung Series 9 Premium Ultrabook (silver)
Nikon Camera with 18x Zoom
Xbox 360 250GB with Kinect
JumpSport Elite 14-Foot Trampoline with Enclosure
Up to 40% on select Alex Toys
Street Surfing Amped Pro Scooters
Buy three or more select Hasbro Games, get the lowest price game free
Up to 60% off children’s books, including Disney Bedtime Favorites
Up to 50% off select winter clothing, including outerwear and cold weather accessories
Stuhrling Men’s Symphony Aristocrat Executive Automatic Skeleton Watch
Peugeot Women’s Diamond Accented Watch
Select Bosch tools and accessories
Up to 60% off popular TV series, including Seasons One and Two of The Walking Dead
Casio 76-Key Premium Keyboard Package
In addition to the Black Friday store, Amazon also released this morning a cloud-based photo storage app for Android.