Why offer just a day or two of deals when you can stretch the festivities out for nearly a full month? That seems to be Walmart's take on the Black Friday phenomenon. To get customers into the spirit, the company says it will kick off its holiday sales on Sunday Nov. 1.
How good are Walmart's Black Friday Deals? It's hard to say yet, as only a few have been announced. But the retailer will have a 16GB Wi-Fi-enabled Apple iPad Mini 2 on sale for $199. It now sells for about $268 at Walmart, Best Buy, and other retailers.
The Black Friday website BFAds.net says the retailer will also offer as an online-only special a 48-inch 1080p smart TV from RCA for $299. It did not identify the precise model, but it appears to be the LED48G45RQ. If that's correct, it's currently available for $320 at Walmart, so the savings are limited. It's also worth nothing that RCA hasn't done especially well in CR's TV Ratings. (This LED LCD TV, in fact, was part of Walmart's early-bird sales last year.)
A second online-only special features a Samsung Galaxy S3 Straight Talk prepaid smartphone in white for $99. Based on current offerings, that's a savings of $80.
Because Walmart is expecting almost 75 percent of the traffic to its website this holiday season to come from mobile devices, the retail chain is offering a Mobile Check-in service that lets you buy online and pick up your items in the store. Customers can also use the retailer's mobile app to scan items in-store and add them to a wish list or search the wish lists of family members and friends to find gift ideas.
According to Walmart, its Rollback prices will be in effect for at least 90 days. There will be fewer "this weekend only" holiday offers, though. The retailer will match online prices and those that qualify for its Ad Match Guarantee, so save those receipts.
Much as we did with Dell's holiday specials, we'll be reporting on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals as they're announced, so keep checking back for news on where to find the best bargains. In the meantime, take a look at our Top 10 Black Friday Shopping Tips.
