Black Friday Deal Tracker 2024: How to Get Alerts
By Emily Fenton
Updated November 8, 2024
The latest info on everything you need to know about the best Black Friday deals 2024.
Plus, we'll show you how to use Visualping as your deal tracker to send you alerts on your favourite holiday markdowns.
Millions of deal hunters and holiday shoppers are anticipating this year’s greatest shopping deals: Black Friday.
As it has been for the last couple of years, a year of inflation, supply chain disruptions, record-busting fuel prices and product shortages mean the best Black Friday deals in 2024 are going to be trickling in earlier than the official date on Nov. 29th – in various unpredictable waves.
It also means product stock, like last year, will be limited. Shoppers will need to stay vigilant as to when Black Friday deals launch online, and act fast when they do drop.
This 2024 Black Friday guide includes all the key info you need: some of the top sites to be keeping tabs on for deals, some of this year’s biggest brands to look out for, and how to get set up with a Black Friday deal tracker, like Visualping, to get deal alerts on all the best bargains this Black Friday.
Visualping is a deal tracker that monitor any web page on the internet – including your favourite retailers’ websites – and alerts once they drop their Black Friday sales.
You’ll be among the first to know when Black Friday deals become available. Beat the rush and make this year's shopping easy and stress-free -- while scoring the top items on your list.
When is Black Friday 2024?
It Depends on the Retailer, but Start Early
Black Friday deals will start well before the official date, kick-starting in early October and lasting through until late November. It depends on the retailer.
Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart are just a handful of the major retailers that'll launch the season early with some of the best deals. Last year, Walmart Black Friday deals launched six weeks ahead of Nov. 29th, in scattered, unpredictable waves.
Officially, Target's Black Friday sales start November 24-30th. But,since 2010, the retailer's launched some of its Black Friday deals a few days ahead of the offical Black Friday date.
Best Buy Black Friday deals, started on November 8th, with deals up until their "Main Black Friday event" starting on November 21st. Keep an eye out on Best Buy as various doorbuster deals are released every Friday through Christmas season, up until December 20th.
Amazon held their "Prime Big Deal Days" between October 8th and 9th, which is essentially Amazon's Black Friday preview. The main Black Friday event starts on November 22nd and ends on November 29th with two phases inbetween. Phase one takes place from Nov 22nd through to Nov 28th, and the second phase with 'exclusive deals' takes place on November 29th, aka the official Black Friday date.
When to Shop for the Best Black Friday Deals?
Act Fast, While Supplies Last
Like it did last year, inflation, fear of tarrifs, ongoing supply chain constraints, and lstock shortages may pressure retailers to showcase their Black Friday deals earlier.
While it's not November 29th, the key to successful holiday shopping is preparation. Start as early as the first week of October, to ensure you don’t miss out.
Black Friday deals are in-demand, while stock is low – it’ll be an early, limited time rush. Shoppers should be keeping their eyes peeled for deals to drop, so they act fast when they do.
Because it’s tricky to know exactly when early deals are going to be launched, and it’s important to act fast before stock sells out and delays hit, many savvy shoppers sign up for deal tracker tools, like Visualping, to get automatically notified when your top product pages get a discount.
Instead of bookmarking your top products and incessantly rechecking for discount updates, Visualping will monitor the pages for changes for you, and notify you with sale alerts.
Next up, we’ll review some of the top Black Friday brands, the best retailer sites to check out for deals, and how to get set up with Black Friday alerts with Visualping.
If I Start Shopping Early, Will I Miss Some of the Best Deals?
Last year’s day-of Black Friday deals were no less impressive than the markdowns in the weeks leading up to the event. So, start deal-hunting by October.
Ultimately, if there's a good offer in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, then you should feel confident that you can take advantage of early deals at the big-name online retailers.
Black Friday Retailer Specific Strategies
Major retailers have tailored their Black Friday strategies for 2024, focusing on unique approaches to attract customers and boost sales. These tactics range from extended sales periods to exclusive product offerings and innovative discount structures.
Walmart's Black Friday Blueprint
Walmart has expanded its Black Friday event into a month-long extravaganza. The retail giant will release new deals each week throughout November, culminating in a grand finale on Black Friday itself.
Key features of Walmart's strategy include:
- Early access for Walmart+ members
- Steep discounts on electronics and home appliances
- Exclusive in-store doorbuster deals
- Online-only flash sales every 3 hours on Black Friday
- Walmart has also introduced a price-matching guarantee for Black Friday purchases, ensuring customers get the best possible deals.
Target's Approach to Deals
Target has adopted a data-driven strategy for Black Friday 2024, utilizing predictive analytics to optimize its offerings. The retailer will focus on personalized deals based on individual shopping habits.
Target's Black Friday highlights include:
- Extended hours for RedCard holders
- Bundle deals on popular gift items
- Daily digital doorbusters via the Target app
- Free shipping on all online orders during Black Friday week
- The company has also enhanced its buy-online-pickup-in-store service to reduce wait times and improve the customer experience.
Best Buy's Discount Offers
Best Buy has positioned itself as the go-to destination for tech deals this Black Friday. The electronics retailer has implemented a tiered discount system, offering deeper price cuts on higher-priced items.
Best Buy's strategy includes:
- Price guarantee on Black Friday purchases through December 25th
- Exclusive deals for My Best Buy members
- Trade-in program for old electronics with bonus credit
- Extended return period for holiday purchases
- Best Buy has also partnered with popular tech influencers to promote its deals across social media platforms, targeting younger consumers.
Home Depot's Holiday Sales
Home Depot has transformed its Black Friday event into a home improvement extravaganza. The retailer is focusing on big-ticket items and DIY project essentials to capitalize on the ongoing home renovation trend.
Home Depot's Black Friday approach includes:
- Early access to deals for Pro Xtra loyalty members
- Significant discounts on power tools and smart home devices
- Free delivery on orders over $45
- Virtual workshops for DIY holiday projects
Sign Up For This Black Friday Deal Tracker
Visualping can be used as a price tracker to automatically track price changes on any websites and product pages you want. It sends you discount alerts whenever the costs drop.
You can stay on top of Black Friday discounts and take advantage of the best deals stress-free, without all the manual work involved in doing it yourself – bookmarking your top product pages and Black Friday informational pages, and incessantly rechecking for any updates.
What is Visualping?
With over 2 million users, Visualping is a website change detection and monitoring tool that has been mentioned by NBC, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Politico, among other press, as a simple and easy-to-use tool for getting price drop alerts.
How Does it Work?
When it detects a page change – such as the original price crossed out, a price drop, or a 'Add to Cart' text with the new discounted price next to it – you get an email alert. The alert includes a screenshot of the web page, with all the changes highlighted for you to see.
There’s also a link, at the bottom of the alert, so you can navigate to your monitored page and make your purchase – promptly, before the discount catches on and everyone else rushes to snag the product for themselves.
To check for changes, Visualping takes automatic screenshots of the product page at regular intervals – every 2, minutes, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, hourly, daily, etc – and compares each image to the last to check for changes.
Is it Free?
Visualping is free, with several affordable subscription options for higher frequency monitoring. If you’re looking for a product as in-demand as the PS5, for instance, you can automatically check the page every 2 minutes.
Check out Visualping’s pricing to learn more.
Is It More Than a Black Friday Deal Tracker?
As well as for free Black Friday deal alerts, Visualping is often used as a restock alerts tool to automatically track product availability online.
When an item is back in stock, savvy online shoppers get alerted.
For instance, it’s been used as a PS5 stock checker, and an Xbox Series X tracker.
On a more serious note, during the baby formula shortage in mid 2022, Visualping was used by many parents as a baby formula stock tracker. And, during the Coronavirus pandemic, when vaccines were first approved, hundreds of thousands of people used Visualping to be alerted of Covid-19 vaccine availability in their local area.
And getting setup with Visualping is easy.
How to Get Black Friday Deal Alerts
To get started with Black Friday sale alerts, simply navigate to Visualping’s homepage, and copy and paste the URL of the product page you want to track.
Next, customize your monitoring settings, such as the part of the page you want monitored, how often you want the page checked, and the email address you want the alerts sent to.
To add items to a watchlist, simply repeat this process with each product page URL you want automatically monitored for changes.
And you’re done!
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Get Set Up with a Black Friday Deal Tracker:
Step 1: Copy and paste the URL of the product page you want to monitor into the search field on Visualping’s homepage. You don’t need to first sign up. Click Go.
Step 2: Once the page appears in the viewport, select the part of the page you want monitored. For price tracking products, this is the part of the page surrounding the price.
Step 3: Specify the frequency you want Visualping to check the page – every 5 minutes, 30 minutes, hourly, daily, etc.
Step 4: Type the email address you want the alerts to be sent to. Click Start Monitoring, and that’s it!
Step 5: Visualping will send you an email, asking you to make a password for your account. Don’t forget to do this. The password completes your account, and allows you to login to your user-dashboard, where you can view all your Visualping monitors and email alerts in one location.
Set it and forget it – We’ll let you know when Black Friday deals launch online.
Happy Black Friday monitoring!
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Sign up with Visualping to monitor any prices online and get notified of price changes.
Emily Fenton
Emily is the Product Marketing Manager at Visualping. She has a degree in English Literature and a Masters in Management. When she’s not researching and writing about all things Visualping, she loves exploring new restaurants, playing guitar and petting her cats