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Looking for the best Black Friday deals from all your favorite stores, and maybe a few new ones too? Our team of deal hunters and product testers have decades of experience between them, and to be honest, we're doing a bit of shopping, too, so we're only here for the hottest discounts.
Price inflation has been an extra burden on all our spending throughout 2024. And with several big stores already confirming they'll be passing next year's proposed tariffs directly to their customers, this year's Black Friday deals might be the lowest prices we see for some time on many products - or even ones just featuring parts - not manufactured in the US.
So, if you've been thinking of making any bigger purchases recently, especially in the tech and electronics category, this might be a handy time to dive in. We're covering much more than laptops, gaming consoles, and TVs, though, as our style, homes, mattress, VPN, streaming, and beauty editors haven't stopped throwing hot deals forward for this guide. Let's take a look.
Feel free to bookmark us or leave this tab open on your browser as we're updating our highlights for the best individual Black Friday deals across various categories below from Thanksgiving right through the holiday weekend. Look out, though; some of the best deals will sell out long before Friday wraps up.
Want more Black Friday picks across fashion, tech, home, kitchen, beauty, mattresses, and more? Take a quick look at our full list of new deals and sales articles.
Black Friday 2024 officially lands on November 29, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Sales kicked off way before then, but some fresh discounts will arrive on the day itself, too.
Historically, Black Friday was an event reserved for in-person shopping, while Cyber Monday was an occasion for online buyers. Over the years, however, that distinction has long been lost, and the two have become very similar. Rather, Black Friday seems to herald the beginning of the holiday's best deals, while Cyber Monday marks their final day at most stores. Both are great. I would say that it's best to buy a deal you find on Black Friday because if you wait until Cyber Monday, you may find it out of stock.
In terms of offerings, Black Friday tends to be more geared toward home goods, TVs, fashion, furniture, and appliances. If you can recall the items people would fill their carts with during the Black Fridays of yore, you've got a good idea of the day's most popularly discounted items. Think toasters, video games, big-screen TVs, vacuum cleaners, clothes, and mattresses.
Cyber Monday used to be geared toward tech, and nowadays, it still carries a little bit of that influence. While most of the Black Friday deals continue on, you can also find limited-time discounts on products like PC components, gaming consoles, cameras, and computer accessories.
Again though, if you see a deal on a piece of tech you really like on black Friday, we'd hop on it as it's not guaranteed to still be there on Cyber Monday.
Black Friday is a great event to take advantage of for gift shopping and upgrading or restocking your home. If you've been waiting for a good deal to step up your entertainment center or kitchen counter, we see all-time lows every year on our top TVs, gaming consoles, smart speakers, air fryers, VPNs, streaming services, coffee makers, and the like. With Christmas on the horizon, it's also a good occasion to shop for great gift discounts on products like e-readers, gaming accessories, headphones, videogames, iPads, and much more.
Many great savings can be had on Black Friday, making it more of a question of "What shouldn't you buy?" You shouldn't be buying products from shady brands or sellers, especially on social media, no matter how cheap they are. That's why we highlight only deals on products we've tested or researched from sellers we trust, making it easier for you to shop with peace of mind during the rush of Black Friday.
The name "Black Friday" hails from a stock market crash in September of 1869 caused by two investors driving up the price of gold. That, combined with a 50% drop in harvest value for corn and wheat, resulted in an all-around dark day for the economy.
Almost a century later, the name returned in the 1950s as the term for the Friday between Thanksgiving and the annual Army-Navy college football game. Law enforcement would often refer to it as such because of the longer hours they'd have to work to police the influx of traffic and shoppers during that period.
Like all popular terms, businesses picked it up for marketing purposes, attempting to rework it into "Big Friday." But it never stuck and "Black Friday" took over as the most commonly used name by the 1980s. It's a fitting name since the holiday is such a massive retail event, often moving many businesses' finances from the red into the black.
