Full moons are known to cause a bit of craziness. Tomorrow’s full moon will be no different as retailers start firing the first shots in the US shopping war better known as Black Friday. The fact that this full moon falls on a Friday is very fitting. Tomorrow marks exactly 5 weeks until Black Friday 2010.

With more than a week to go to Black Friday, two Best Buy Black Friday shopping families started camping out to be the first in line. Needless to say, this got the attention of the press, which got the attention of Best Buy’s marketing team. They decided to reward these early shoppers with iPads.

Both Target and Kohl’s have released press details of their Black Friday sales plans. Starting on Sunday, November 21, Target will be launching a 4-day sale with over 170 items. Good news for Black Friday shoppers: the discounts will be mostly on top electronics, movies and toys. Coupons will be coming out in the Sunday circular for even more savings.

Everybody’s heard about the phenomenal holiday deals that are available on Black Friday. If you haven’t personally benefitted from the slashed prices and doorcrasher deals, you can bet some of your friends have. The amazing thing about Black Friday holiday deals is, the stores benefit too. Everybody wins.

A number of reports state that U.S. retailers enjoyed an increase in holiday sales in ’09, but that many of the sales were at lower profit margins. Considering the complex chore of digging through company balance sheets and retail statistics to find the truth, perhaps a better judge as to whether 2009 holiday sales were a success is Wall Street.

Below is a chart that shows the S&P Retail Index (^RLX). I’ve highlighted the various stages of the holiday period from Black Friday pre-sales & hype to after Christmas sales.

It happened soon this year then last, but most major retailers have leaked their Black Friday ads by now. This is great for Black Friday shoppers because it means they can plan ahead, knowing who has the best deals for the items they want.

There’s more to Black Friday than deals on electronics and toys! Some of the best bargains to be found on Black Friday are on designer shoes. Get ready for a holiday party, stock up on fabulous shoes for work or play, or treat yourself to a new pair of stylish heels ‘just because!’

Cyber Monday is the first Monday after ‘Black Friday’. Historically ‘Black Friday’, the Friday after Thanksgiving, is one of the top-3 shopping days of the year. This is because retail stores offers outstanding doorbuster deals on this day.  Fortunately for shoppers who don’t find what they want on Black Friday, retailers have turned it into a weekend long event finishing off with hot online sales on the following Monday, which has become known as Cyber Monday.

Thanksgiving – it’s a wonderful time to be grateful for all we have, all the prosperity and abundance that has come our way in the past year. In the days after Thanksgiving, the focus changes a little bit. Thanksgiving sales are when we get to buy more things to be grateful for, often at prices that make our abundance go far.

Black Friday 2010 assessments are in. Quantitatively, the data shows Black Friday hit new levels of popularity in 2010. Qualitatively, we noticed both retailers and the press put much greater emphasis on Black Friday, casting a larger shadow non-Black Friday holiday sales then we’d seen before.

Reports from a variety of sources confirm that 2010 was a record year for Black Friday shopping activity. The data below is understated since analysts failed to recognize that Black Friday’s activity takes place outside Friday (this year stores like Toys R Us opened up their Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving day plus many retailers make the Black Friday sale a 3-day sale that extends into Sunday).

E-Readers are hot this Black Friday but how to choose from amongst the plethora of options out there? Should I go for a dedicated reader like a Kindle or a Nook OR should I go for a multi-tasking device that includes a reader like an IPAD. Your decision will depend upon your needs, but our E-Reader roundup should make it easier for you to compare and contrast the various devices that are out – and help you to find the best price!

Last night Saturday Night Live poked fun at Black Friday with their skit featuring Anne Hathaway. The fictionalized store was called MegaMart with their 12-minute Black Friday Sale. As you can imagine, the deals were too good to be true and over-the-top.

Take a look for yourself:

Here’s a press release we sent out today. It’s already gotten coverage on TheNextWeb, PadGadget, Black Web 2.0, and 1up among others. We’d love to see more bloggers chime in on the data and share their own predictions. Here’s the full data for those interested:Black Friday Predictions

Apple’s iPad and Kinect for Xbox 360 Expected to be the Most Highly Sought After Items on Black Friday

If you see long lines at popular retailers, its not a Black Friday sale, it is because Kinect launches today. Anyone with Xbox live has likely seen the countdown timer for the Xbox Kinect launch for some time now. Now that the day is here, how’s the reception?

First off, it is hard to tell. As of the time of writing, a search in Google for Kinect doesn’t produce any news results. After heading over to Google news, I see more activity and expect much more today. At least Google didn’t offer the suggestion: Did you mean “connect.”

Check out this useful Black Friday Video - lots of good information on how to find the best deals - check out the reference to Black Friday at the 52 second mark

Americans are all familiar with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the busiest day of the Christmas shopping season for many retailers. Incredible “doorbuster” sales are often held only on that day, and these sales encourage people to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and stand in line for hours just so they can be one of the first in the door when the store opens at 6 am or earlier.

Hundreds of Black Friday shoppers participated in an October 2010 survey conducted by BlackFriday.com to give insights into U.S. consumer expectations for Black Friday shopping this season.

The BlackFriday.com app is everything you need for Black Friday on the go. Be the first to know about leaked Black Friday ads, pre-Black Friday sales and Black Friday doorbuster savings. Customize your experience so you only get alerts about the products and retailers you care about.

Make it easy to get what you want this Black Friday without fighting the crowds and suffering the lineups!

We all want to give the best to our loved ones but it’s difficult to not break the bank at the same time. As usual we like to help you out so we’ve compiled a few great items that’ll impress the special people in your life! It also means you get to skip the Black Friday Lines!

It is mid-October. Temperatures are dropping, leaves are beginning to fall, pumpkin-spice lattes are being served up, and retailers have kicked into high-gear, eager to deploy their Black Friday master plans.

In the past, Black Friday season consisted of Thanksgiving week. Some ads & promotions would be in the Sunday paper and many more would come out on Thanksgiving day. Sales would happen all Friday and possibly spill into Saturday or Sunday. Things have changed the past couple of years.

Since the early 1950s, Mr. Potato Head has been for several generations not only a spud, but a toy legend with many faces. He was first introduced as a normal potato with bits and pieces of funny looking faces made up of fruits and vegetables added by George Lerner (the inventor); later he turned into a plastic figure sold in stores by the company manufacture, Hasbro. Mr. Potato Head has gone from the kitchen, to appearing in commercials, to starring in the movie “Toy Story” and in to history as one of the best selling toys of all time.

Thanksgiving is an American holiday where we gather together and give thanks for our life, liberty, and many blessings. It is a family event, and nothing symbolizes quite like the legendary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade is a three-hour, live televised event that takes place on the streets of New York City on Thanksgiving Day. It is a display of dancers, marching bands, floats, and of course, the spokesman for Christmas himself, Santa Claus. The first parade took place in 1924 from Harlem all the way to 34th street, where the Macy’s flagship store was located. There were balloons, floats, and even live animals. The first parade began a year long tradition that is still an American event today.

Teddy bears seem like they’ve been around forever. When people think of childhood, they think of little children cuddling teddy bears to sleep. It may sound strange but teddy bears are not as old as you may think. They have only been around for a little over a hundred years.

The teddy bear got its name from US President Theodore Roosevelt, whose own nickname was Teddy. In 1902, he took a bear-hunting trip with some other men. Roosevelt was one of the only ones to not have killed a bear. Roosevelt’s attendants caught, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear cub to a tree so that Roosevelt could shoot it. Feeling it was unsportsmanlike, Roosevelt refused.

The dynamics of Black Friday & Christmas shopping change a little each year. Many savvy retailers will hold debriefings this week to determine what worked and what didn’t when it came to their marketing strategies during the holiday season. Since we cover all major retailers, we are in a unique position to spot what worked and what didn’t for the shopping industry.

Here are some of the key differences we noted in 2009 Black Friday shopping compared to years past.

Many retailers call after Christmas sales the 2nd Black Friday because it is an opportunity to draw customers in by offering them deep discounts on similar items you’d see on sale during Black Friday (electronics, video games, toys, etc.).

Look for many sales or clearance deals in store and online. Unlike the real Black Friday, more of the best deals can be found online as retailers use online purchases to clear out inventories regardless of location.