Amazon Launches Black Friday Deals Today

Amazon.com officially launched its Black Friday Deals Store, now through Dec. 22. In addition to offering new deals as often as every five minutes, Amazon is also featuring “holiday gift guides” to help shoppers find gifts without all the guesswork. Prime members are also eligible for additional deals, such as two-day shipping on more than 30 million items.

Total Retail's Take: The holiday season has officially begun! If Amazon says so, then all other retailers better follow suit. In addition to launching deals for all shoppers, the online retail giant is using the holidays as another opportunity to provide more perks to its Prime loyalty members — and attract some new ones in the process. In a rare instance of bad news for Amazon recently, it was reported that growth of its Prime membership program is slowing (although, as the article accurately states, this is in large part because so many households are already paying for the service). I expect that we'll see a surge in Prime membership during the holiday season, especially as we get closer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.