How Walmart, Best Buy and others are marketing Black Friday deals online

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time for spending time with the family, eating too much and frantically shopping for bargains online.

A recent Nielsen survey found that almost half (46%) of US shoppers plan to shop online on Black Friday while Adobe has predicted that ecommerce sales will total £1.6bn as people log on for bargains the day after Thanksgiving.

This is on top of the online shopping that will be done on Thanksgiving itself, which is predicted is reach $1.1bn.

Unsurprisingly ecommerce sites have already begun promoting Black Friday deals to try and keep up with the competition and capture those holiday dollars.

With that in mind, here’s a look at how six major retailers are marketing Black Friday deals on their homepages…

By David Moth November 27th 2013 13:28

Walmart

Walmart has gone big on Black Friday, dedicating its homepage carousel to the annual shopping fiesta.

And like an annoying teenage girl celebrating her birthday it has extended Black Friday to last the entire week, so customers have plenty of time to go in-store and browse for deals.

Shoppers can also access the bargains on offer at their local stores, including a map showing where the featured products are located in-store so people don’t waste their precious time hunting around for things.

Walmart has certainly covered all the bases in its campaign to attract bargain hunters.

Macy’s

Macy’s has given its Black Friday specials some real estate on the homepage, though the Thanksgiving sale still takes precedence.

Shoppers are able to preview all of the Black Friday deals and create a shopping list, however purchases can’t be made until Thursday.

Macy’s is also opening its stores at 8pm on Thursday evening, so shoppers can celebrate the national holiday by queuing in a department store.

Target

Target is currently promoting its pre-Black Friday sale, but more deals will go live when the current promotion ends this evening.

Shoppers can preview the Black Friday deals in Target’s online magazine, which also has an interactive feature that allows users to create a wishlist ahead of time.

As with Macy’s, Target will be opening its doors at 8pm on Thanksgiving.

Home Depot

Home Depot has jumped the gun and is already offering Black Friday savings.

The presentation could be improved though, as it’s not a very eye-catching display and the colour scheme means that you can barely see the grey calls-to-action.

Lowes

Lowes is kicking off its Black Friday sale on Thursday and online shoppers can currently take a sneak peak at the deals that will be available.

There’s even a giant countdown just to help get shoppers even more excited plus the ability to add items to a wishlist for a speedy purchase.

Best Buy

The main promotion on Best Buy’s homepage is for the iPad Mini, though there are also several adverts for its upcoming Black Friday deals.

Best Buy allows shoppers to flick through an online catalogue to preview the offers ahead of the sale going live on Thursday. The retailer has trumped its competitors by opening its doors at 6pm on Thanksgiving.