Walmart announced that it will be launching its Black Friday sales a day earlier on the evening of Thanksgiving, on Nov. 12.

In its bid to attract more customers who would be willing to shop before Thanksgiving dinner, the mega-retail store chain will be opening its doors and offering Black Friday discounts at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening. The store had launched its deals at 8 p.m. on Thursday last year. Walmart will be holding two major sales at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m but will be holding back some exclusive sales for Black Friday.

While Walmart has done this before, other stores like Best Buy and Macy's seem to be following suit this year, suggesting that they will also open earlier for the very first time on Thursday.

Online deal expert Brad Wilson spoke to USA Today about this new developing trend.

"We saw even in the last two years, when stores were opening Thursday, they weren't necessarily kicking off their promotions on Thursday - the best deals wouldn't necessarily start at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.," he said. "This really shifts the focus."

Wilson went on to suggest that moving the sales up by an hour was becoming the norm in a very competitive market and was also making the shopping day even more important during holiday season.

"Almost everybody is moving at least one hour up," he said. "We thought that was the best time to 'win the weekend.' It's going to be a competitive market. With six fewer days to Christmas, Black Friday's going to play an even more important role."

Walmart had actually started advertising its online promotions on Nov. 1.

Tags
Black friday, Walmart