I’ve been watching closely the battleground for the Black Friday shoppers this year and as in years past, the tactics blend into the days before and weeks after the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year we saw the inception of “Gray” Thursday (when I was a kid we called it Thanksgiving Day). Wal-Mart seemed particularly savvy with the timing of the deals starting that evening and breaking them into segments for the following Black Friday. Some doors opened at Midnight, but deals were offered at 6am, 8am and 10 am based on the product family.

This is a pretty cool move by Wal-mart, because the items I seemed to gravitate towards were being offered at their lowest prices later in the day. Do they have a bead on the American male shopper? Maybe so. I’m sure a great deal of data was behind the deal timing, and no one has more shopper data than Wal-Mart. They must have deciphered the fact that I was so full of turkey and mashed potatoes that there was no way I’m getting in line at midnight, or 6 am for that matter.  Getting to the store at 10am for certain deals almost got me off the couch!

Still this year I did most of my shopping online…long before today’s Cyber Monday; I received emails from the places I most shop online at, offering deals long before today. but I will still be lurking on the Internet today to see what deals might be out there. If they’re smart, we’ll see treadmills and gym memberships go on sale today!