What to expect, start date & early deals

Even though the extremely popular Black Friday and Cyber Monday events for 2021 aren’t officially starting until the last weekend of November, we’re already seeing great deals starting to appear earlier than initially predicted.

Most retailers are so keen to get this year’s sales started that we can actually think about starting our holiday shopping earlier.

This means you can snipe incredible bargains from Walmart, Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, but also from a lot of online stores eager to offer you the deal of the year.

And we’re not just talking about hardware here. Sure, every one of us would like a new laptop, console, or tablet, the strongest PC available, or the latest VR headset.

But what about all the software out there that is also on sale? You should definitely keep an eye out for games or apps you wanted, as you might be able to get them for an incredible price.

When is Black Friday 2021?

Black Friday comes on the weekend after Thanksgiving in the US, which means that the event falls on 26 November. Cyber Monday follows right on its heels three days later on Monday 29 November. 

These are the official dates with which we’ve all grown accustomed. The reality is that retailers have been anticipating the hype and launching Black Friday deals earlier and earlier to get in ahead of the competition.

Black Friday 2021 appears to have unofficially started earlier than ever with several major retailers already offering massive deals. 

While many retailers will surely save their most exciting deals for the official Black Friday weekend, in the US, Amazon has launched advance Black Friday deals in its Epic Daily Deals.

Best Buy is also promising amazing Black Friday prices, while Walmart is offering Black Friday Preview deals.

So all we have to do is prepare our credit cards for this massive event, because surely authorities will only permit Black Friday to exist online this year, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

How can you spot the best possible deals?

Well, with so many retailers participating, and so many products at reduced prices, the task of finding the best possible deal seems daunting at first.

Indeed, you can find your favorite product with a 15% price discount, but how can be sure that it really is a bargain you’re getting?

An excellent idea would be to start thinking about exactly what you might want to buy, check the current price and you’ll surely recognize a genuinely good deal when you see one.

Also, you can also start checking which stores stock the products you’re after, which makes it easier to know exactly where to check when the sales start rolling.

Some of last year’s best Black Friday deals included:

Will next-gen consoles be cheaper on Black Friday?

Since the biggest hype right now is around the new generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft, it feels only natural to start this article with them.

These devices have proven very hard to get for some people, due to the massive chip shortage that crippled console manufacturing throughout 2021.

So if you’re still in the market for a next-gen console or Nintendo upgrade, it’s challenging to get your hands on one right now.

Not only did October get off to a bad start with restocks in general but Black Friday isn’t helping matters much either.

Most retailers are surely hoarding consoles right now so that when the time comes, they will have enough stock for their customers.

But, Xbox Series X and PS5 prices on Black Friday certainly won’t be any cheaper than their standard ones. Since launch last year, stocks had sold out within minutes every time it’s appeared.

And as much as it pains us to have to say this, there’s zero chance of any discounts for the consoles and probably bundles too.

However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any Black Friday Xbox PlayStation 5 or Series X deals at all.

We should see plenty of sales on games, controllers, and accessories, and we could also potentially see some discounts on the previous generation consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

But you don’t necessarily have to wait until then, as some of these accessories we mentioned have already gone on sale, Yes, we’re talking games, controllers, and headphones ready for the taking, at lower prices.

Laptops already went on sale and its not even Black Friday yet

The truth is that we’ve not even reached November and there are already dozens of laptop deals available, ahead of Black Friday.

Retailers are so keen to get this year’s sales started that we can already bring you a number of excellent early offers should you be ready to buy a new portable PC today.

Whether you want a Windows laptop, a Chromebook, or a MacBook, there’s plenty to choose from.

In fact, we’re already seeing some early Black Friday laptop deals landing right now. Best Buy and Walmart both launched early offers last week, with the former offering its My Best Buy members a Black Friday price guarantee.

Certain items in the sale can be registered if you’re a member, and the retailer will refund you the difference if the price drops any further over the holiday season. 

Lenovo also jumpstarts its Black Friday sales early, joining its fellow retailers in this race to provide cheaper products this time of the year.

While their website promises the usual doorbuster specials around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it also pays to take a look at the company’s website, as you might be surprised to see some of those future discounts are already available.

Software is also on early sale, prior to Black Friday

Of course, not only hardware goes on sale during this time of year, and most of you know this because you took advantage of these offers in previous years.

We’ve seen Adobe knock significant percentages of their creative suites and other products as well in the last years, and we can expect the same in 2021.

But we’re not just talking about them, as surely all companies will want a slice of the pie and will provide their customers with inciting discounts.

You can buy basically anything you want for a lower price, including VPNs, antivirus software, photo, and video editing software, and pretty much everything else you can think of.

For example, NordVPN is offering what they say is the best deal of 2021, a discount of 72% on their services, and the offer is still live until the end of the day so it’s worth checking out.

But this is just one of the pre-Black Friday deals you are going to find so expanding your search could result in some pleasant results.

What will the best Black Friday gaming deals be?

Prices for headsets, keyboards, hard drives, and other peripherals are typically cut by huge amounts during the sale, and that makes it the best time to grab anything you’ve had your eye on.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t already find some goodies on the good old internet if you know what to search for and where to look,

Razer, for example, has all kinds of different products on the go at any moment, and the price reductions have already begun here as well.

If you really wanted to get your hands on a Razer Black Widow keyboard, a Deathadder Elite gaming mouse, or some of the Razer Blade gaming laptops, now’s your chance.

And many other retailers have similar deals so all you need to do is wish for something, search for it, and if the price is right, buy it.

Video games are also on sale this time of the year, even prior to the much-anticipated Black Friday event.

By simply accessing shops on Steam, Epic Games, Blizzard’s BattleNet, Xbox, or the PlayStation Store, you will find deals that are hard to resist, considering the knocked-off percentage.

As an example, if you were eager to try out Resident Evil Village, you can buy it $10 cheaper on Amazon already, and it’s not even Black Friday yet.

You might also want to make a quick stop at GameSpot, as they’ve already started discounting products as well. For example, Microsoft’s Flight Simulator for Xbox Series X also went on sale ahead of Black Friday.

The list is a long one so it’s definitely worth searching for your favorite games, to see if they are already discounted.

What are some of the retailers worth watching this Black Friday?

As always, people will stick to the retailers that gave them awesome deals in the past but that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth trying something new.

Amazon, Best Buy, Verizon, Home Depot, Target, and Walmart are some of the biggest and the ones that people have kind of grown accustomed to.

But it’s also worth checking out manufacturer websites, not only retailers, as you have even better chances of finding the best deals and saving some money.

Remember that Black Friday is a global event and everyone will want to get in on the action, so all you have to do is find the offer you like most and act on it.

But you better be quick, because stocks usually vanish rapidly during Black Friday so creating a wishlist or pre-loading your online cart would also be a good idea.

What product have you set your eyes on for the year’s Black Friday? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.