Red hot 30-60% shopping discounts on Black Friday deals

22 November, 2012

Black Friday, the single busiest shopping day in the US, is all set to be just that this year too - with heavy consumer rush expected at retail stores as well demand for products and services at online stores. Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the US, and kicks-off the shopping season that lasts for the next three months.

MANY MAJOR retailers are expected to open on this day between midnight and 4 in the morning on Friday, November 23. But shoppers should also note that many retailers, like last year, will decide to open their stores on Thanksgiving Day evening till the end of Black Friday to accommodate the heavy demand for heavily discounted products. The promotional sales at these stores will roll out the holiday shopping season.

Consumers across the world, especially Americans, can shop at reduced prices - as many retailers will not charge for shipping - particularly local - and not expect consumers run a bill of a minimum amount to avail discounts.

Walmart is offering upto 3.5 per cent cash back; Kohl's, Best Buy - upto 3 per cent cash back; Sears, Kmart, Sony and Gap - upto 5 per cent cash back; Dell, Macy's, Home Depot - upto 4 per cent cash back; Harry&David and Petsmart upto 7.5 per cent cash back. Gap is also offering 60 per cent off on its products. Verizon wireless is offering upto $100 cash back. Online retailers are offering cameras and other electronic entertainment products at heavy discounts - for example a DVD player that generally is on sale for $20 is being offered at $5 at Macy's.

Other retail outlets where shoppers can get great bargains are JC Penney, Radio Shack, ebay, Amazon, Bloomingdales, American Eagle, The Body Shop, Foot Locker, and MacMall. To know about more Black Friday offers and deals, shoppers can visit bfads.net; theblackfriday.com; walmart.com/cp/black-friday/1076614; fatwallet.com/black-friday; and blackfriday.gottadeal.com.

Some of the best Black Friday deals on offer at these sites are: At Amazon one can buy Seagate Backup Plus 3TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for $99.99. At BestBuy, you can buy the Sony PlayStation 3D Display Bundle for $99.99. A Canon PowerShot A1300 is available for $59.99, the Apple iPad 16GB WiFi w/ Retina Display, White, for $439.99; Timberland's Waterproof Boots at 30% off; and a Dell Latitude E5530 15-inch business laptop with 2nd Gen Intel Core i3 for $499.00.

Shopping on Black Friday can be physically and mentally taxing, but still people line up from early morning to ensure they enter a store as soon as possible, and don't lose out on the best deals. There is a lot of jostling and screaming involved. In fact, during the last Black Friday in New York a grandmother entered a store with an automatic weapon to scare people off in order to first pounce on a heavily discounted item. Sometimes, there are stampedes and fights.

But Black Friday is also a tradition among many Americans - as parents often take their children along while shopping for Black Friday deals, and children follow this tradition themselves. Mostly, staff at retail outfits and shoppers are patient and courteous - sometimes singing Christmas carols while standing in long lines.

The name Black Friday originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to communicate the heavy and chaotic pedestrian and vehicle traffic the day after Thanksgiving Day. Later, another explanation started being used - indicating the point at which retailers start to make a profit - or are "in the black".