TVs May Be Best Deals for Black Friday Shoppers

Black Friday is here, and 2017's version looks like it might be the strongest one in recent years, reports Business Insider. Generally speaking, crowds are looking larger, perhaps thanks to metrics such as low unemployment and a rising stock market. "The turnout is clearly better than the last couple of years," says an analyst at Customer Growth Partners. Still, the frenzied madness of the day itself appears to be on the wane, as stores spread out sales to "Super Saturday" and, of course, online. During Thanksgiving week, 35% of holiday shoppers planned to get most of their shopping done on Black Friday, down from 59% in 2015, reports USA Today, citing a survey from PwC.

• Best online deals: Kinja is among the sites rounding up the best online deals for Black Friday, including Amazon tablets: the Fire 7 is $30, the Fire HD 8 is $50, and the Fire HD 10 is $100.
• Brick-and-mortar deals: Fortune has a guide to some of the best deals at the likes of Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Target, for instance, is selling the Xbox One S 500GB for $189.99, a discount of $90. Thrillist looks specifically at Walmart.
• TVs: The New York Times thinks the best deals awaiting customers might be on high-end TV sets that typically run $2,000 or more. Discounts of 15% to 30% can save big money, and the Times has a guide on what to look for here.

• Travel: Conde Nast Traveler rounds up sales on travel, from hotels to cruises. Contiki, which caters to those under 35, is offering 30% off some trips and $150 off worldwide flights.
• Into Cyber Monday: This weekend leads into Cyber Monday online sales, but in a sign of how the whole weekend is merging into one, CNET notes that some of Walmart's Cyber Monday deals are already available. It rounds them up, including an RCA 55-inch 4K Roku Smart HDR LED TV for $379, a discount of $420.
• Toys: The Washington Post notes that discounted toys in particular tend to sell out in a flash, so the advice is not to hesitate if an item you need comes up for sale. Toys R Us is having big sales, including Lego sets for 40% off and Baby Alive dolls for 50% off.
• Bad Amazon deals: BuzzFeed has a wide-ranging guide specifically tailored to Amazon. One tip: Look out for unfamiliar companies that spring up solely to sell sub-quality merchandise, everything from boots to TVs, on Black Friday. "If you’re seeing something for the first time, search for the model numbers," says one expert.
• Uptick in spending: US holiday shoppers had plunked down $1.5 billion online in the first stretch of the shopping season, leading up until 5pm ET on Thanksgiving, up 16.8% over last year, per Adobe Analytics.

(More Black Friday stories.)