WASHINGTON — Thanksgiving and Black Friday are still two months out, but holiday shopping is about to ramp up already.
Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy have each this week announced their competing plans for kicking off the holiday shopping season in early October.
When is Amazon's October Prime Day 2024 event?
Amazon has announced the return of its Prime Big Deal Days on Oct. 8-9. The 48-hour event kicks off at 12:01 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, Oct. 8. The Seattle-based online retail giant has long used Prime Day events to get people to join its Prime membership.
This will be the third consecutive year that Amazon has held a second Prime Day event in October to offer holiday deals early.
Walmart's first Holiday Deals event
Walmart said Thursday it's kicking off the holiday shopping season earlier than ever, with its first Walmart Holiday Deals event from Oct. 8-13.
The world's largest retailer plans to offer "some of its hottest deals of the season" during the early October event, which begins online for its Walmart+ members at midnight ET on Oct. 8. The deals go live online to everyone else at noon Eastern that day. The sales event then hits stores on Oct. 9.
When is Target Circle Week?
On Monday, Target revealed its holiday shopping plans and announced the return of Target Circle Week for Oct. 6-12, 2024. The company says the sales event "will feature deals on products to help consumers prep for the holidays, along with savings on fall favorites, everyday essentials and more."
The Minneapolis-based company said it also plans to hire around 100,000 seasonal team members across its stores and supply chain facilities for the 2024 holiday season.
Best Buy reveals holiday season plans
Also on Monday, Best Buy shared a first look at the multiple holiday shopping events it has lined up. This begins with a Member Exclusive Sale from Sept. 27-29 on things like laptops, TVs and more.
Best Buy will launch a competing 48-hour Flash Sale on Oct. 8-9, the same days as Amazon's October Prime Day event.
Later in October, there's an Oct. 21 Prep for the Holidays event and a 3-day gaming sale that kicks off Oct. 25.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
