Drea Knufken
Image: yisris/Flickr
Black Friday, the major shopping day after Thanksgiving, can give you amazing bargains. But, as any experienced shopper knows, a successful Black Friday requires preparation.
When it comes to preparing, the Internet is your friend. Several entrepreneurs have set up websites to help you navigate Black Friday deals, store hours, and ad updates. Their information will help you avoid hours of searching for Black Friday ads on Google, as well as find bargains you never knew existed. We compiled a list of the ten best websites for finding Black Friday deals, so that you can focus your energy on being in the stores.
10. BlackFriday.info
Features:
Ad scans
Blog
Search by store or category
Email updates
Deal of the day
Register to create a shopping list
Store hours
This relatively generic Black Friday website doesn’t have much in the way of standout features, but if you just want the basics, it does the trick.
Features:
Blog
Facebook presence
Shopping list
Most popular products list
Online Black Friday deals
Search by store and category
Email updates
This site offers pretty basic Black Friday coverage with a decent interface. It lacks store hours, but covers you on all the other essentials.
Features:
Ad scans
Email updates
Blog
Search by store
Online sales
Shopping list
Tabulated store hours
BlackFriday.org’s clean interface gives you easy access to scanned circulars, either via their blog or by flipping through them at the top of the website. The blog displays circulars as they come out and gives a summary of a circular’s main discounts, store hours and, if applicable, associated online coupon codes. Slick design makes this website pleasing to the eye and easily navigable.
7. DealNews
Features:
Ads by store
Lists due dates on ads it doesn’t yet have
Can follow on Twitter/Facebook
RSS feeds
Sort by product
Email newsletter of deals
This Black Friday site is incorporated into DealNews’ more extensive site, which includes deals by location and Mac-specific deals. It’s a relatively simple site with a blog-like Black Friday resource that includes information on how consumers research Black Friday, myths about Black Friday, and more. Downside: At time of viewing, the site hadn’t collected all the ads that it listed as due (or past due).
6. Black Friday 2010, by Bradsdeals.com
Features:
Blog
Email alerts
Adscans
Store hours
Deals you can scroll through
Facebook/Twitter
Black Friday 2010 has a really good blog, which adds a human touch to deal-hunting. Besides updated deals, they cover useful Black Friday tips, a history of the big day, and other topics. They don’t have a forum, however, nor do they include as many stores as some other sites.
Features:
They put checkmarks next to store names on left sidebar after they’ve received ads for that store
Many ads accessible to people with visual impairments
Forums
Email updates
Adscans
Excel-based Black Friday Organizer
On Twitter/Facebook
Find deals by store icon or coupon link on this site. It updates frequently, but doesn’t include a blog, so you get a bare-bones list of deals. Their forums help you find details. A good website if you want to skip details and go find deals by store.
4. Black Friday @ Gottadeal.com
Features:
Frequent updates
Adscans
Good tips in the FAQ section
Personalized shopping list (with registration)
Store hours
Email alerts
Message boards
Cool features make this site a worthy visit for any Black Friday shopper. Their Item Tracker shows you a list of products you can order online now for Black Friday ad prices or less. Their Sale Tracker lists dates, times, discounts, and any additional information for major Black Friday retailers. You can also get your Black Friday info-fix through geek a personalized shopping list and email alerts. If you’re into FAQs. they also happen to have the best FAQ list of any site we surveyed.
Features:
Shopping list
Coupons
iPhone.Droid apps
Adscans
Filter by merchant and price
If you like to find deals by product or category, try out TGI Black Friday. They update findings at the top of the page in blog format. When you navigate down the page, you’ll see top deals, accompanied by a photo of the product. At the bottom of each product listing, you can add the product to your shopping list, or share it. The user interface makes it easy to interact with the website. If you like an interactive, visual component, try this site.
Features:
Forum
Blog
iPhone app
Twitter feed/Facebook presence
Email newsletter
Winning navigation defines this site, which makes sifting through ads much easier than the typical “click on a store logo and see what you get” format. You can filter your preferences by store, category, price, brand, rebate, door buster, free shipping, and whether the ad is online or not. Once you filter, a list of matching ads appears in a sortable menu box in the center of the screen. Most ads in the list are linked to the retailer’s website. This is about as easy as sorting Black Friday ads gets.
1. BFAds
Features:
Around 50 stores in their database
Adscans
Buying guides
Good tips
Personalized shopping list (with registration)
Store hours
Mobile-compatible updates
Message boards
On Facebook/Twitter
…and T-shirts (you know you want one)
Daily updates give you the lowdown on deals, as well as links, instructions, and coupons (or coupon codes), where pertinent. You get complete information and analysis on each new deal they post. Whoever is behind the blog–another great feature of the site–obviously knows how to bargain hunt. The blogs tells you where to find discounts, how long they’ll last, and whether they’re sold out or not. Frequent updates and a thorough level of detail make this my favorite website.
