In 53 days, Black Friday will be upon us. However, for shoppers who are looking to get a jump start on their holiday shopping, Amazon is rolling out deals now.
Amazon has begun their “Black Friday-worthy deals” to jumpstart the holiday shopping season as experts are predicting it to be a chaotic year due to shipping and supply chain issues.
Amazon announced Monday “deep discounts across every category” including fashion, home goods, toys and electronics that will be available on a special webpage.
And a heads up to those looking to score popular brands at a discounted rate. Brands such as Apple, KitchenAid and Hasbro, will also be discounted on “select days” in October and November. Amazon detailed that new deals will be added every day throughout the next two months.
Amazon has also added a new tool for US-based Prime members. For those shopping on the app, customers can now send a gift without even knowing the recipient’s address. The purchaser just needs to enter the person’s mobile number or email address. The new service even will alert the recipient of the purchase or give them the option of exchanging it for an Amazon gift card without letting the sender know.
Not to be out done, Target announced last week plans to getting a head start on the shopping season earlier as well. It’s bringing back “Deal Days” on October 10 for three days that includes “savings on thousands of items” and will be available both in-stores and online.
Customers should expect a stressful holiday shopping season. Surging demand combined with shipping container shortages and bottlenecks at ports have already triggered tighter supply of products. In addition, there have also been factory closures in Vietnam due to Covid-19 which has resulted in forcing brands from Nike to PacSun to give warning about their potential supplies.
In addition to product shortages, the United States postal service has announced an increase in prices for the peak holiday shopping season due to the fact that more people are shopping online, which is impacting their delivery. FedEx also announced they will add a fuel surcharge on certain shipments, including FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight shipments, beginning on November 1.
