Here's when to find the best Black Friday deals on appliances, electronics, travel and more
Discounts and deals abound around Thanksgiving, but other days may offer better prices for holiday shopping, according to retail experts.
This year may be a mixed bag for discounts, as some business owners have told CBS News that rising costs are giving them less room to roll out aggressive holiday sales. Still, holiday spending this year could top $1 trillion for the first time, according to a forecast from the National Retail Federation, which expects roughly 187 million people to shop between Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year.
So far in 2025, consumer spending has been driven by high-earning households, while low- and middle-income families are feeling pinched by inflation and affordability pressures, economic research shows.
Here's when to expect the best Black Friday weekend deals, broken down by product category.
Shop in-store for big appliances
Looking to buy a big appliance, like a refrigerator, washing machine, or kitchen appliance? It's best to shop in person at brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday, according to Deborah Weinswig, founder and CEO of Coresight Research, a provider of retail research.
"We expect to see lots of promotions that are unique to in-store purchases at retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's," she told CBS News.
Shoppers should also head to retailers early, because inventory could be limited. Additionally, she expects retailers to adjust pricing in real time, based on consumer demand. Promotions could even vary on a store-by-store basis, depending on inventory levels, Weinswig noted.
When to find travel deals
While the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed "Travel Tuesday," it's not necessarily the cheapest time to book. Instead, consumers should start looking for deals as early as Thursday evening, said Julian Kheel, founder of Points Path, a flight search engine.
The best way to keep on top of such promotions is to sign up for your favorite airline or hotel's email alerts, Kheel said. You can always unsubscribe after you've made a reservation, he notes.
"Most companies will try to get ahead of the competition by launching sales by the morning of Black Friday at the latest," he said. "So don't wait until late Tuesday to look for a great travel deal."
Deals on consumer electronics
Cyber Monday is expected to be the best day to find deals on consumer electronics like TVs, speakers, computers and more, according to Adobe Digital Insights analyst Vivek Panyda.
"We'll see discounts in the range of 10% to 28%," he told CBS News.
When to buy toys
Black Friday will provide the lowest prices for popular kids' toys, according to retail analysts. It won't pay to wait later than that for deals, especially on hot items like Legos and Labubu dolls that tend to fly off shelves quickly, according to Pandya.
Marshal Cohen, retail advisor at Circana, also advised that consumers should look beyond advertised prices and comparison shop for additional savings.
"Retailers are competing with so much of the same product," he said. "So don't just rely on the ad you get. Take time to comparison shop and make sure it's really going to be the best price."
Other holiday shopping tips
Consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch offers other tips for finding good deals:
- Enroll in a store's loyalty program. "This could get you a new subscriber coupon that you can stack on top of the sale of up to almost 25% off. You'll get rewards, free shipping both ways," Woroch told CBS News.
- Track prices using tools such as camelcamelcamel.com and Amazon's AI-assisted shopping assistant, Rufus.
- Use casbhack apps such as ShopBack. "They're offering 5% cash back at Best Buy, 12% back at LG, 1.5% back at Amazon. That's going to really rack up when you're spending hundreds of dollars during these sales events," Woroch said.
- Use AI, such as Google's Gemini tool, where to find the best deals for particular gifts.
- Shop at stores that offer to match other retailers' prices. "That's going to basically make sure that anything you buy now and it goes on sale later in the season, you can still get price adjustment. And I'm seeing stores like Target, they're offering a very generous price match guarantee," Woroch said.