Best Black Friday 2015 Deals

To conquer the hordes of Black Friday shoppers and actually nab a deal, you have to have a battle plan.

Which store are you going to be in line at before dawn? Do you know exactly which door-buster discounted item you plan to buy?

Some shoppers scout stores in person a day or two beforehand so they know exactly where to head – where will Best Buy pile the deeply discounted Dell touch-screen laptop and iPad Air2, or where does Kohl’s stash of 50-percent off toys sit?

If you have a particular store you want to hit first, you can find Black Friday ads and Cyber Monday ad previews at websites like BFAds.Net, BestBlackFriday.com and Black FridayFM. For instance, BestBlackFriday will show you the dollar amount and the percent of markdown for items such as women’s sweaters at Macy’s, or wool coats and ECCO boats at Nordstrom.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the best Black Friday deals advertised so far, although they may change, say the advance scouts at Time and CNBC.

• 40-inch 1080p TV for $149: Walmart is advertising the deal on standard 1080p TVs for just $149; the brand offered isn’t listed yet.
• Amazon Kindle E-Reader for $50: You can get $30 off Amazon’s 6-inch Kindle for the reader in your gift list.
• Windows 10 Laptops for $250: Best Buy is selling laptops that run Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system for $250. The Asus and Acer brands run on Intel Celeron processors, so they aren’t the fastest laptops, but work for email, school papers and basic online browsing.
• iPhone and Samsung Smartphones for $0 Down: If it’s time for a new smartphone, Walmart is luring new signers to contracts with this deal for any Samsung smartphone and the iPhone 5S and higher.
• Target has slashed 25 percent off all Beats Wireless Headphones.

WalletHub, an online consumer site, analyed data, deals and ads for the upcoming shopping season. Here are some of their findings.

• JCPenney and Kohl’s are 2015’s Best Retailers For Black Friday Deals.

• Over 17 percent of items will actually be more expensive on Black Friday than they currently are on Amazon.com.

• Books, movies and music will offer the most value on Black Friday 2015 relative to their current prices, while jewelry is expected to be the worst deal.

• 11 percent of Black Friday deals are the same as last year, per this 2015 Black Friday Freshness Report.

• Visa, Amazon.com and American Express top the list of 2015’s 50 Most Popular Gift Cards.