Walmart’s Christmas discounts to start in early November, again

This undated file photo shows Walmart's sign in front of its Bentonville headquarters.
This undated file photo shows Walmart's sign in front of its Bentonville headquarters.

Walmart Inc. plans to spread its Black Friday discounts throughout November again this year, and its Walmart Plus members will get early access to deals online.

The Bentonville-based retailer said Wednesday that "Black Friday Deals for Days" savings events is back for a third year "by customer demand."

The three events will start online at 6 p.m. every Monday in November up to Cyber Monday. In-store shoppers can access the bargains beginning at 6 a.m. each Wednesday. Walmart Plus members can get a six-hour head start on Mondays, however, with early access between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Walmart.com.

The company has also created a streamlined Black Friday shopping page on its website and app that groups all the deals in one digital location.

A Walmart spokeswoman said its stores, which will be closed Thanksgiving Day, will re-open at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. And stores will keep their regular hours throughout November, she said.

Carol Spieckerman, a retail consultant and president of Spieckerman Retail, said Walmart's strategy for the Christmas shopping season seems to be "steady as she goes."

The headline on Walmart's announcement calls out the key points, Spieckerman said: more savings, longer events and earlier member access.

What used to be called "Christmas creep" as retailers offered their discounts and consumers started their shopping earlier each year, has become the norm. Many stores now start their sales events in the first week of October.

But the Christmas shopping season traditionally began on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when retailers began offering doorbusters and other seasonal promotions.

Those events then began spilling over into Thanksgiving to give shoppers a head start on nabbing the best deals.

When the pandemic began in 2020, though, and stores cut back their hours to reduce crowding, many retailers, including Walmart, started closing on Thanksgiving. And even as the pandemic wanes, those trends look to stick around.

John Furner, president and chief executive of Walmart U.S., said in a recent appearance on NBC's The Today Show that Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving is "a thing of the past."

And the rapid adoption of e-commerce, especially during the pandemic, has made Black Friday largely irrelevant.

The timing of Christmas this year also plays a role in the early promotions and sales events, said Brian Field, global leader of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions.

Christmas falls on a Sunday, and many stores will close early the day before. That could well make the previous Saturday, Dec. 17, the busiest shopping Saturday in December, Field said

Retailers use historical data determine how to stock, staff and promote deals during the holidays, he said.

"The last time this happened was in 2016, and if that's any indication of what will happen this year, retailers can expect bigger crowds and higher-than-normal demands on this day than they might have in other years," Field said.


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