The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Prepare a Black Friday game plan

Plan ahead for limited quantities on the biggest shopping day of the year.

Shoppers rush into the Target store in Middletown last year on Black Friday. Retail analysts suggest shoppers have a strategy before heading out for the biggest shopping day of the year.

Staff photo by Pat Auckerman Shoppers rush into the Target store in Middletown last year on Black Friday. Retail analysts suggest shoppers have a strategy before heading out for the biggest shopping day of the year.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Local highways to get barriers in medians
Updated 4 min. ago
Mother gets 10 years in prison for death of daughter
9:21 p.m.
Arcade progress happening behind the scenes, group says
9:20 p.m.
Boys of the Lough playing Kuss
9:14 p.m.
> More headlines

By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 2:02 AM Sunday, November 22, 2009

Before breaking out your thermos and tent for a Thanksgiving night spent camping out for a flat panel TV, make sure you have a game plan.

Retail analysts warn that on the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, shoppers should have a strategy before heading out for the biggest shopping day of the year. Many stores are carrying limited quantities of low-priced doorbusters. Check at the bottom of the ad for messages like: “While supplies last,” “Minimum 2 per store,” “No rainchecks” or “All items are available in limited quantities.”

Some stores, like Best Buy and Target, said they will be handing out tickets to customers in line for doorbuster items. No ticket means no item. So while the retails hope this will avoid stampedes, with few items in stock that will mean a lot of unhappy customers.

That’s why Mickey Allen, 48, of Hamilton, said he is doing his shopping now.

“I went to Black Friday once. All they had left was (junk) and who wants the disappointment?” he said. “I’d rather pay more and sleep more.”

Shopping online

Online shopping can save you time and sleep on Black Friday, as many retailers will offer some of their deals on their Web site. However, realize that some items will go quickly and it could be months before you receive it.

Case in point: Sears last year offered its Black Friday doorbuster deal on a Kenmore washer-dryer pair for $600 online. Although the retailer advertised “limited quantities,” it tried to honor every customer order. However, the end result was that production was unable to meet the demand, so customers waited months before their order was shipped while others were sent comparable models instead.

Other vendors plan to capitalize on the online mayhem this year.

Walmart Stores Inc. has set it sights of beating out Amazon.com in terms of online shopping market share. The company said it was the No. 1 online retailer Thanksgiving Day last year and plans to keep up that pace with special sales and deals throughout the holiday season.

On turkey day, CEO Raul Vazquez said he expects more than 10 million visits to the Walmart Web site as shoppers scoop up its 50 online-only items, including toys and electronics discounted up to 40 percent.

Many stores, such as Staples, Target, Best Buy and Circuit City, offered Black Friday deals online, saving customers from waiting in line at the store. However, high-ticket items like computers and TVs sell out quickly, making it imperative to still get up early and wait for the sale to be offered. Some stores, like Walmart, will begin its online sale at about 1 a.m. Thanksgiving Day, while others will wait until Friday to offer the special pricing.

Online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Dell, also are expected to begin offering deals early Thanksgiving Day.

To find out what stores will be offering deals online, check out www.blackfriday.info/online for continual updates on what will be available.

Hot ticket items

High-Definition TVs remain the No. 1 electronic gift, and Target and Walmart are going head-to-head for the lowest-priced doorbuster.

This year, Walmart is advertising an Emerson  32-inch LCD 720p HDTV for $248 and an Emerson 42-inch Plasma 720p HDTV for $448.

Meanwhile, Target will have a Westinghouse  32-inch 720p LCD HDTV for $246 and an Apex 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $449, a great buy since it offers the highest HD resolution available.

But if you want to beat the holiday rush, Best Buy has its Dynex 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV listed for $299.99 and Dynex 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $499.99 on sale right now. Buy it online and choose to have it delivered to the store to avoid shipping charges.

Dan Gunther, 27, of Fairfield said he plans to wait in line rain or shine for deals on Black Friday, especially the TVs.

“I want to get one for my parents. My siblings and I are all splitting up and whoever gets the TV that day, it will be the one they get for Christmas,” he said.

Sarah Riley, 38, of Middletown said she has a different strategy.

“I troll the Web sites on Thanksgiving and Black Friday,” she said. “Sitting at the computer in my PJs sure beats waiting in line.”

Chances are a Zhu Zhu Pet — the popular robotic hamster toy — or a Snuggie blanket will be under your Christmas tree this year as Panjiva, an analyst firm, said it has seen a dramatic increase in the retail stock-up on these items. This is despite retailers saying they would keep their merchandising levels lean this year after being stuck with unwanted items after the holiday rush last year.

To get an idea of where to find hot ticket items at the best price, visit bfads.net. The Black Friday Ads site posts inserts as they are released and includes spreadsheets that outline which retailers have the best merchandise at the best price.

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

The zhu zhu pets are great toys for children, if you can get your hands on one....
You can still find these hamsters, which are turning out to be the must-have toy this holiday online. Try Amazon or ZhuZhuToy.com

ZhuZhuMom
11:41 AM, 11/24/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Some like to get out there on the retailers best shopping day and that's fine. Why let them decide that this is the best day for you? I am willing to bet that prices will be much better closer to the holiday especially if BLACK Friday does not payoff for them. Black Friday deals are on the whole just a ploy. If the consumer does his or her part deals can be found after Black Friday that will surpass the ones being offered.

BestPlan
5:14 PM, 11/23/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Its incredible how a simple Toy has so high demand
people are literally fighting to get this thing before
they are sold out.

The main problem is that many third party sellers
are reselling them for up to $50 dollars.

Here is a tip that im going to use to get one of those
for $12 dollars before the holidays.

I will monitor Amazon.com with FrontLineGrabber.com
so it notifies me with a sound alarm the second the
zhu zhu pets become available in Amazon.com in-stock at
retail price.

rayght
2:24 PM, 11/23/2009

REPORT ABUSE

M dizzle, I guess it sucks to have you as parent. Do you not participate because no one loves you enough to give you a gift. I will give you a gift... I'll hook you and Hugh Jaynis up. You can exchange gifts! He has a lot to give!

tim
12:15 PM, 11/23/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Hugh Jaynis I like the way you think. I think I may have been behind you in line last year. Enjoyed it, thanks.

tim
11:56 AM, 11/23/2009

REPORT ABUSE

There are 7 additional comments

SHOW ALL

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.