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If it seems like Black Friday deals, and holiday shopping in general, is starting earlier and earlier, you’re right. Just in time for, um, Halloween, both Walmart and Best Buy have announced plans for their 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Black Friday, always the day after Thanksgiving, falls on Friday, November 28 this year. Deals generally continue through that weekend into Cyber Monday, which falls on December 1. However, in recent years, many retailers have jump-started the sales some two, or even three weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. And this year is no different. Here’s what to know. When do Walmarts Black Friday deals start? The world’s largest big box retailer often sets the schedule for Black Friday deals, according to Axiosso take note. This year, Walmart said it will hold two different Black Friday sales events, rolling them out at different times online and in stores nationwide. Walmart+ members (those who pay for the retailers subscription tier) get first access to the deals starting on Thursday, November 13 at 7 p.m. ET, with sales opening for everyone else online and in-stores on Friday, November 14 and ending on November 16. The second event starts on the Monday before Thanksgiving, on Monday, November 24 at 7 p.m. ET for Walmart+ members; then online-only on Tuesday, November 25 through Thursday, November 27; and finally, both in-store and online on Black Friday itself, Friday, November 28 to Sunday, November 30. Walmart Cyber Monday 2025 sale The same drill goes for Cyber Monday, when Walmart+ members get early access beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 30 for the online-only sale. The sale starts on Monday, December 1 for all shoppers. Best Buy 2025 Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales Best Buy is starting even earlieron Halloween (yes, you read that right). This Friday, October 31, Best Buy is rolling out its early Black Friday tech deals called “DoorBOOsters”available on the Best Buy App, BestBuy.com and in-store. Members of Best Buy’s two programs, My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total members, also get up to $25 in bonus rewards on select products. More Black Friday sales kick off Thursday, November 20, with savings on computing, gaming, home theater, wearables, and more. Cyber Monday comes a day early, on Sunday, November 30, with up to 50% off select tech. No one does the holiday shopping season like Best Buy, so we decided to expand the definition of holiday and start the fun on Halloween this year, Jason Bonfig, chief customer, product, and fulfillment officer at Best Buy, said in a statement. Whether you want to shop in your costume, or wait until Black Friday, well be here all season long with the best gifts, unbelievable deals and endless ways to discover the coolest products. Holiday shopping is forecast to increase at a lower rate than last year, as Americans feel the effects of Trump’s tariffs; inflation and the skyrocketing cost of living, including higher grocery costs; and a government shutdown which has many federal workers going without paychecks amid mass firings. Holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 2.9% and 3.4% in 2025, according to Deloittes annual holiday retail forecast, versus 4.2% in the same period in 2024.
Category:
E-Commerce
Its official: Twitter.com is about to bite the dust forever. According to a series of tweets from Xs @Safety account, posted between October 24 and October 25, the social media platform plans to finally retire the Twitter domain on November 10. Currently, searching for Twitter.com still leads directly to X, but soon, that will no longer be an option. The domains phase-out comes more than two years after Twitter owner Elon Musk renamed the platform X in July 2023, much to the dismay of many loyal users. At the time, critics argued that the rebrand was destined to fail, with some going so far as to call it brand suicide. And while many former users have indeed jumped ship to competing platforms like Threads and Bluesky in the years since Musks $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, it looks like the new name is here to stay. The announcement that Twitter will soon disappear into the annals of internet history came subtly buried in a message from Xs @Safety account that, due to the domains retirement, users who rely on certain two-factor authentication (2FA) methods will need to update their log-ins before November 10. Heres what you need to know about the notice: How to make sure your X account doesn’t get locked According to an initial post from @Safety, all X accounts that use a security key as their 2FA method will need to re-enroll their key in order to keep accessing X after November 10. Per a second post, a security key does not refer to users who rely on an authenticator app to log into X. Instead, this notice only pertains to anyone using a physical security key (like a Yubikey), or a passkey, which is an encrypted, passwordless log-in option that typically requires users to enter a face scan or fingerprint scan. These methods are typically used to keep accounts safer, since they make it more difficult for hackers to access passwords and log into accounts remotely. If you use a security key or passkey to log into X, heres what you can do before November 10 to avoid locking your account: Open your account and navigate to Settings. Select Security and account access, then click “Security” and open the Two-factor authentication section. Click the Add another key option and follow the steps to create a new security key or passkey thats linked to the x.com domain rather than the former Twitter.com domain. Per the @Safety post, After November 10, if you havent re-enrolled a security key, your account will be locked until you: re-enroll; choose a different 2FA method; or elect not to use 2FA (but we always recommend you use 2FA to protect your account!) X did not immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment on what other steps its taking to ensure that the Twitter retirement process proceeds smoothly.
Category:
E-Commerce
Small importers for large U.S. retailers rushed in China-made strollers and wares meant for spring and are storing the goods in their own warehouses to avoid the big tariff bills that had been threatened over the next month. Before Sino-American talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur eliminated the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 100% tariffs on Chinese imports starting November 1, importers were expecting to shoulder the staggering levies. In response, importers of goods sold at retailers Walmart, Amazon, and Target chose to risk loading their balance sheets with inventory that may take months to move out, and pay more for warehousing costs. They’re also betting consumer spending holds up in the spring as lower-income consumers rein in spending and the economy remains uncertain overall. “We are trying to front-load spring orders,” said Leslie Stiba, CEO of high-end stroller-maker Austlen Baby Co. “We brought in as much as we could manage.” Stiba said she placed orders for 20% to 25% more strollers for spring 2026her biggest seasoncompared to the last. Overall, she is holding 50% more inventory than before the start of Trump’s trade war, and has held off on hiring due to the new expenses. Front-loading has become the norm for months now, as businesses have tried to get in front of Trump’s vacillating levies. Importers bulked up shipments from China during the six-month tariffs truce between the two countries, triggering a surge in shipping rates and port activity. Reuters reporting, in the days before the framework of a tariff truce was hashed out on Sunday, shows the phenomenon continued for spring 2026 shipments. Like many importers of China-made goods, Stiba had to stop shipments earlier this year when Trump first imposed tariffs of about 145%. The halt hurt her business because she did not have enough inventory to fill orders. Ahead of schedule Some Chinese suppliers took a more relaxed view, baking tariff-related uncertainty into their business plans. “Whatever happens on November 1 will happen, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” said a toymaker in southern China, who did not want to be named for privacy reasons. “I don’t think very many people are assuming that tariffs will rise dramatically. People might be doing some front-loading deals with the assumption that we will have a three-month extension window, but there wasn’t enough time to move orders forward to meet the November 1 deadline even if you wanted to.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday he anticipates that a tariff truce with China will be extended beyond the November 10 expiration date. Deng Jinling, manager of a Chinese company that exports thermos flasks to the United States, told Reuters before Sunday’s development that her shipments were still going out normally and she wasn’t worried about further levies. “Theres no rush,” she said. “Most of the goods have already been shipped. Only about 20% of the U.S.-bound cargo is left.” Not all U.S. importers ramped up shipments. Spreetail, which distributes large items like trampolines, was waiting to see if the tariffs would stick, said chief merchandising officer Owen Carr. Spring merchandisefrom warmer-weather apparel to Easter basketsusually arrives stateside at the end of the year, with volumes peaking right before China’s Lunar New Year celebration in winter. “Until there is a clear path forward or a resolution (to the trade war), we can expect to see more front-loading,” said Noel Hacegaba, chief operating officer at the Port of Long Beach, the U.S.’s second-busiest. “It has resulted so far this year in a tsunami of cargo.” This year, record volumes including spring goods are far ahead of schedule, he said. Mitigating risks Retailers are ordering more from suppliers’ domestic warehouses, rather than picking up directly from China, executives at toymakers Hasbro and Mattel have said on recent calls. That allows them to mitigate tariff risks and control the pace of stocks on their shelves as shoppers tighten budgets. Holiday toymaker Hey Buddy Hey Pal, which imports Easter-egg decorating kits from China, already has 50% of its goods for the spring ready to be shipped from a warehouse in Dallas, said Curtis Gill, co-founder of the company. Balsam Hill, which supplies artificial Christmas trees and seasonal decor, recently decided to move forward with spring orders of floral wreaths it had been holding back on placing, said CEO Mac Harman. “We did a scaled-back order for spring,” Harman said, adding that he raised prices. Jessica DiNapoli, Siddharth Cavale, and Arriana McLymore, Reuters Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein, Casey Hall, and Sophie Yu.
Category:
E-Commerce
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