Stores using technology to lure holiday shoppers

This Black Friday, which falls on November 27, all of Walmart’s Black Friday in-store deals will start at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26).

Steve Bratspies, chief merchant at Wal-Mart, said its customers have told the retailer they want a “simplified, less confusing shopping experience”.

As retailers have pushed Black Friday door-buster deals earlier each year, a small but growing number of companies has gone in the other direction.

As the actual deals are not completely revealed, it appears that Walmart is stocking up their supplies before finally releasing the offers to the public.

Walmart announced Thursday that for the first time ever, it won’t offer the frenzied hourly deals called “doorbusters”.

The move to ease off of Black Friday is a decidedly mixed one for brick-and-mortar retailers, though.

Best Buy just launched its Black Friday special deals on their website for customers who are looking to purchase Christmas gifts at affordable prices. Wal-Mart stores will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

“Battlefield Mall is ready to welcome families to benefit from our extended shopping hours and great sales from our more than 150 popular retail stores”, Mall General Manager Michael Martin said in a news release.

If you prefer to shop from the comfort of your home, look for Target’s deals on Thanksgiving Day online.

“So one has to wonder: Is this really becoming a question of marginal returns on the tremendous effort that retailers have to put in to promote Black Friday?”.

“It’s about deals, it’s about availability and it’s about simplicity”.

On Black Friday weekend, Best Buy is going to open nearly 1,000 of their stores at 5 p.m. and they will stay open until 1 a.m. the following day. Perhaps an even bigger change, though, is that nearly all of Walmart’s sales will be available online first, starting at 3 a.m. EST Thanksgiving day.

Target also plans to expand its curbside pickup service to 121 stores, up from 21 a year ago, and to extend its price-matching service.

Wal-Mart could use the boost: margins at the retailer, due to report fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday, have come under pressure due to costs related to entry-level wages, investments in e-commerce and competition from Amazon.com as well as regional supermarkets and dollar stores.

If you’ve been patient enough to wait on a few of this year’s biggest games, Walmart’s Black Friday sale will help you catch up with a few serious savings.