TMCnet Feature

Apparently sick of having to wait until Cyber Monday (News - Alert) to get into the act, online retail outlets and daily deal sites are launching their own Black Friday campaigns in an effort to take advantage of the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping craze.

Just weeks after Web retail giant Amazon announced its Black Friday (News - Alert) Deals Store, daily deals site LivingSocial on Monday introduced its own online shopping alternative, one that will provide up to 50 percent discounts on products and services from Verizon Wireless (News - Alert), Skype, Bonobos, Skechers and many other national brands throughout the holiday weekend.

The move is a departure from LivingSocial's traditional focus on local businesses, which pair up with the discount shopping site to gain notoriety and introduce local shoppers to their brand. Mitch Spolan, senior vice president of national sales at LivingSocial (News - Alert), told the AP that local business will continue to be at the heart of the service, but national campaigns like this will be introduced from time to time.

While LivingSocial will roll out the specific deals on Friday, users will have until Monday to redeem the coupons. The site will then introduce a new set of deals on Cyber Monday after the first batch expires. One such deal will enable shoppers to spend $40 on $80 worth of vino at Wine.com, says the AP.

The move comes after every major brick-and-mortar retailer unveiled earlier than usual opening times for Black Friday. Target (News - Alert), Macy's and Kohl's each announced their intention to open for business at midnight, forcing Best Buy to follow suit shortly after. Wal-Mart then trumped the competition by saying that it will roll out its Black Friday specials at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving, a decision that wasn't met too kindly by Wal-Mart employees who will be forced to take it easy on the tryptophan-laden turkey.

The early store openings and the online specials are designed to take full advantage of the expected 2.8 percent holiday retail sales increase from last year.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves