by Janeen Elite

Created on: November 19, 2008

Black Friday 2008: How to Find the Best Deals This Year

As most people are probably aware, Black Friday occurs the day after Thanksgiving. It is usually considered one of the biggest retail shopping days of the year and derives its name from the fact that it is on this day that most retailers expect to sell enough merchandise to show a profit for the year. In other words, be out of "the red" and in "the black."

For quite a few years, Black Friday sales were a highly coveted secret. Flyers were usually sent in Thanksgiving Day newspapers while the stores were closed for the holiday and the retail stores opened extremely early the next day for people to get a jump on the best deals.

Subsequently, new flyers were then distributed the following Sunday with other new deals.

As competition continuously grows for this coveted traffic however, so do the opportunities for shoppers to find their sale information earlier and save themselves a lot more money.

For example, even though many stores claim the sale starts on Friday, quite often you can find the item for the sale price advertised right online Thanksgiving Day. So if you know of an upcoming sale for an item you want, be sure to check online first. You might get lucky and save yourself an early morning trip when you can be sleeping in and nursing your turkey hangover.

There are also a few websites that can help you find your deals early as well. Black-Friday.net posts the sales as soon as they get their hands on them, so does Blackfriday.info. Bfads.net not only posts the sales but has a November Holiday Give-Away contest where you can win gift cards to your favorite retailer.

Bestbuy.com is having a great contest for 2008. They are offering $1,000 gift certificates to 25 lucky winners and VIP treatment for Black Friday which includes a limo ride to the nearest Bestbuy store which you can take with up to 3 guests, early entrance into the store before it is open to the public and the opportunity to purchase up to four BestBuy Doorbuster Specials (last year they had computer notebooks for as little as $229 on Black Friday).

To enter the contest applicants simply need to "share how Black Friday shopping is an important holiday tradition for them and their family, and what kinds of rituals they have to make the morning after Thanksgiving an enjoyable kick off to the holiday season." If you are interested in entering yourself simply go to askablueshirt.com.

Doorbuster Specials are one of retailers biggest draw-ins to their

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>