Black Friday shopping tips: How to strategize through Cyber Monday

Black Friday has quickly transformed from a primarily in-store experience to an online shopping craze that lasts an entire month. Even before pandemic conditions prevented shoppers from heading to stores, things had begun to change.

The day after Thanksgiving once marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season, but now, it’s the peak of a month-long bounty of deals. Best Buy debuted on Halloween this year – a first for any mega-retailer. Target and Walmart weren’t far behind, holding their early Black Friday sales on November 6 and November 14, respectively.

Amazon was surprisingly the last to throw its hat in the ring, with its official Black Friday sale running from November 20th to Cyber ​​Monday December 1st. Needless to say, it’s already been a month full of epic deals.

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Black Friday 2025: Live updates on the latest deals from Amazon, Target, Walmart and more

With an overall appetite for savings among consumers concerned about inflation, the question arises more than ever in 2025: What are the best Black Friday shopping tips? Should you wait until the big day to score a deal? Will things be cheaper on Black Friday or Cyber ​​Monday? How can you find the best deals?

Cyber ​​Week is always chaotic, but being organized and knowing what you’re looking for will have you shopping like a well-oiled machine. We’ve provided you with shopping tips to grab the best deals on Black Friday 2025 and beyond.

1. Plan your shopping wisely

We’ll spare you the sports references, but going into Black Friday without a game plan is risky as hell — and a great way to end up with buyer’s remorse.

If you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for this season, you might want to take a look at ad scans from all the major retailers to find out what’s popular, what’s discounted, and when is the best time to buy certain items. Keep in mind that there are a lot of ad scans to sort through. To make your life a little easier, you can follow our mega list of deals from all the major retailers and follow our live blog for the latest updates. TL;DR: We’ve already done the sorting for you.

When planning your attack, be sure to set a budget to prevent excessive spending. It’s easy to get complacent about clicking when you see all the great discounts in front of you.

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2. Organize your Black Friday wish list

It’s no surprise that Amazon’s Black Friday sale is the most awaited sale of the year. If you’re planning on shopping on Amazon this season, do yourself a favor and organize your wish list. There is an “Add to List” button on every product page on the retail giant’s website. Do the same with all the gadgets and gizmos on your shopping list this season to organize everything, see everything at a glance, and even rank items by priority. You’ll be able to see which products have gone on sale and easily find them before they’re gone.

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Creating an Amazon Wishlist is Our Black Friday Shopping Hack

Shop from your phone? It would be smart to download mobile apps from your favorite stores – Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon are the big ones that will be arriving for Black Friday. They’ll clearly display your biggest deals on the screen, making things organized and easy to navigate even on a bumpy trip or to a relative’s house.

Not only will the apps help you on the go, but they’ll also give you access to exclusive app-perks like wishlist alerts, personalized suggestions, scan-and-go features, and much more. The Amazon app will also show you deals on items you’ve recently searched for. It’s like it knows you Very Well.

4. Take advantage of Alexa’s unique features

Got a new Echo smart speaker? Surprise – You can take advantage of exclusive features. Open your Alexa mobile app and turn on the Advanced Deal Alerts feature (you’ll find it under More > Settings > Notifications > Amazon Shopping), then check Deal Recommendations and Shopping Recommendations. If you already have a wish list organized and ready to go, you’ll get a pop-up alert or yellow ring light on your Echo speaker whenever Alexa learns about an upcoming deal on an item on your list. Alexa will also let you know if an item on your wishlist is going on sale 24 hours before the sale starts, so you can plan accordingly.

So technically, it’s actually our work To find the best deals, but we’ll let you in on a little secret. When shopping for deals on Amazon, we always reference CamelCamelCamel to see historical data on selling prices of a particular item. At a glance, this allows you to see how good (or not) that deal is. Even if you’re shopping elsewhere, you can get an idea of ​​the product’s price history before you buy.

6. Use Buy Now, Pay Later Whenever Possible

If you can’t pay for your Black Friday outright, don’t be afraid to take advantage of buy now, pay later (BNPL) options. when used ResponsibleBNPL apps (like Affirm) can help you get the deals you want when making your monthly rent. Just note that BNPL services use a “soft inquiry” to determine your credit. Although this should not affect your credit score, there is no promise that your payment history will not be reported to the credit bureaus.

not all heroes wear capes. (It’s us. We’re the heroes.) Mashable’s Black Friday page is the center of Beautiful There’s a lot that matters in every Black Friday sale, with links to all of our coverage, like the huge master list of the best Black Friday 2025 deals, plus spotlight deals broken down by retailer (Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Target, etc.), as well as categories like TVs, robot vacuums, streaming services, or laptops. This will save you from wasting time and getting overwhelmed trying to look at websites yourself.

We’ll be updating these lists regularly before, during, and after the Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday shenanigans, so check back for all the latest and great deals to come. stores also Love To give away secret coupon codes or freebies. It can be easy to miss these when you’re in a rush to order, so we’ll let you know when we find one.

Would you rather not be glued to the internet during family time? Cute – However, we will be. If you want to keep in touch via email, we’ve got you covered. In the days surrounding the big sale, our regular newsletters will be filled with Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday deals you’ll want to take advantage of.

Mashable Deals Newsletter This is also just a commonly received clutch thing. True, we’re probably biased, but we really think this is an email from you Will not done Get annoyed when this arrives in your inbox. You’ll be sent a quick list of deals we think you’ll care about, like the best Amazon deals of the day or really solid discounts on popular streaming services.

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