The answer to the title question is NO. Home Depot did NOT cancel their Black Friday 2020 tool deals or savings events.
About a week ago, there were numerous reports about Home Depot changing their Black Friday 2020 promo plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Some stories and posts were about Home Depot cancelling Black Friday, resulting in some panicked questions. Other articles more neutrally covered the announcement as Home Depot adapting to challenging times.
I have already started receiving questions asking about Black Friday 2020 deals and promos, even prior to this announcement, and one or two emails asked about how COVID-19 would change things.
NO, Home Depot didn’t cancel Black Friday this year.
For the most part, we still don’t know how COVID-19 will affect the holiday shopping season. The most popular promos typically require sizable quantities of tools or supplies, which are shipped to many hundreds and even thousands of retail store locations. We have seen supply constraints due to the pandemic, and so the holiday and Black Friday 2020 shopping season probably won’t closely follow earlier plans.
The retail industry has shown the ability to swiftly accommodate to challenging circumstances, and although Black Friday promotions won’t be run in the same way as in previous years, there’s no indication that it will be any smaller in scale this year than in previous years.
Social distancing practices have many stores seeking to responsibly manage in-store foot traffic. Home Depot’s promo sections and store layouts won’t be the same or perhaps not even close to what we’ve seen in prior years – they simply cannot be.
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Personally, I think that there will be an emphasis on online shopping, more so than in previous years, and hopefully an emphasis on a smooth curbside pickup system.
Among other things, Home Depot’s announcement specifically said:
For the first time ever, our Black Friday prices will be available throughout the holiday season.
For the first time, The Home Depot mobile app users will have exclusive access to view deals in November before they go live online.
Here’s the thing – many Black Friday specials have historically been available starting in early November, in Home Depot’s gift center. Perhaps with these changes more of them will be available for online ordering sooner.
I’d love to see a virtual holiday season gift center that we could “walk around.”
I don’t know how I feel about mobile-only exclusive early access to view deals. I like to browse on my phone, and I might order an item or two from Amazon on occasion, but I do the bulk of my online buying from a laptop or desktop computer.
Say goodbye to one day of frenzied shopping and enjoy Black Friday savings all season long without the stress and crowds.
Here’s the thing…
We typically see traffic spikes on Thanksgiving, as deals go live or are set to go live a few hours later. Our deal posts and roundups are exhausting to put together, but I find them useful and absolutely worthwhile when I’m in a Thanksgiving evening shopping frenzy comparing prices and promos. I always figure that if it’s useful for me, it’s useful for others, and this has seemed to be the case in previous years.
After years of reporting on Black Friday tool deals, I don’t think that Home Depot has much to change. We see special buys and holiday values starting in November anyway, with some further price drops in late November or early December. We’ll see a selection of new deals for Black Friday and online-only specials for Cyber Monday.
In my opinion, Home Depot already has a winning formula – they’ve stuck to a similar trend for the past few years, and it has worked out well for them.
I sometimes visit Home Depot stores over Thanksgiving weekend, but usually most of my Home Depot Black Friday deal purchases are done online. Items that you wouldn’t think would ship well, such as 4-foot levels, are very well packaged.
It doesn’t sound to me that Home Depot is making any big changes to their deals, only how they communicate about these deals and promos to customers.
If the COVID accommodations also means they will be spreading their Doorbuster-style deals across a wider period, that’ll be good, or at least interesting.
I buy a fair number of Home Depot special buys in-store, but hardly ever during Black Friday weekend. I do take advantage of Home Depot’s Doorbuster-type deals, online-only specials, and other promos that won’t last after the Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday period, but usually online and not in-store.
If you ask me, I would say that Home Depot will still hold back many Black Friday specials for Thanksgiving weekend, potentially making them online-only specials, maybe with pickup or curbside pickup as an option.
With so many promos and sales events taking place the last week of November, a lot of people pass on deals earlier in the season, with the mindset that if they wait there will surely be better bargains. In some cases, waiting for a better deal does work out well for consumers, depending on the tool or types of tools they’re shopping for.
There are 9 weeks until Thanksgiving, and we won’t have many insights or clarity until that gap closes by quite a bit.
One thing for certain is that Home Depot is NOT cancelling Black Friday 2020. Given the significant rise in consumer spending on tools and home improvement products, there’s the possibility of this being their biggest holiday season yet.
Chris I
Isn’t it about time this “event” ceases?
MoogleMan3
Agree completely.
Stuart
Nope.
Consumers vote with their wallets, and their wallets have been saying “give me more.”
fred
We live in a materialistic consumerism driven society where some (probably many) of us measure our worth or at least derive pleasure from our possessions and shopping for them. The rush to get a “bargain” seems to often supersede rational behavior. When the progenitors of the events, that we celebrate as autumn and winter holidays (e.g. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah etc.) occurred – there would have been little possibility for staging a Black Friday sales event.
But now, retailers – HD included – may make significant portions of their revenues from “holiday sales” . This year – with COVID potentially spiking again this winter – I agree with Stuart that things will change – with even more emphasis on online shopping. I think that this year might also be a time to consider paying more to support small local retailers who are struggling because of COVID
Koko The Talking Ape
I’d agree about consumerism generally, but is that true of tools? The only tool I show off is my 14″ fore plane from around 1950, with original wood tote and knob. 😉
I’m more open to spending money on tools than I am for consumer goods like clothing and whatnot, because I see tools as outside that entire consumer hue and cry. They make you more capable and productive, unlike most consumer goods. They are almost virtuous in and of themselves.
Anyway, do you know of any small local retailers that carry the major tool lines? I don’t. Your local Ace Hardware is a franchise I believe, but they don’t carry many power tools.
fred
Depends on where you live. While most mom and pop hardware stores were driven out of business by Home Depot and changing times – there are still local commercial suppliers like AW Meyer, Burns Tool, Coastal Tool, Dynamite Tool- with brick and mortar stores – all small businesses that carry most tool lines. Many of these now also do online sales. Some of the bigger online-sales guys like Acme Tools also still have showrooms for walk-in sales in the upper mid-west.
TonyT
In industrial automation, there’s been some consolidation, and the big catalog guys (like Digikey) have added a lot of industrial automation lines, but there are still plenty of small to medium distributors.
I truly enjoy being able to do initial research online, including a good idea of the price, before having to contact a sales person. However, most of the time we deal with our local distributors – typically, the service is better (especially if there are problems – that’s when the sales people can earn their keep) and prices are lower.
Michael
Unfortunately, AW Meters was sold. The new and larger owner changed to product mix, culture, and atmosphere. I shopped there starting in the early 70’s and spent many an hour in their , at that time , cramped store with my Dad and their knowledgeable staff. When they expanded , the vibe continued and was maybe better as it was bigger; more of a good thing . Unfortunately, now it is not the same. It may be a better and more profitable business but something is lost
fred
To bad about AW Meyers – I haven’t had an occasion to stop by their store in perhaps 10 years now. I knew they were still in business – but did not realize that the ownership and mode of operation had changed.
Kizzle
“We live in a materialistic consumerism driven society where some (probably many) of us measure our worth or at least derive pleasure from our possessions and shopping for them.”
I, for one, measure my worth based on my checking and savings accounts.
I am not a wealthy man…
fred
I like to think that I am wealthy. That’s as much because of a loving family and the positive experiences that we have shared over the years as it is because of any money or other assets I may have accumulated. I realize that the lack of money can make life a struggle – but wealth and poverty can both take many forms.
Steve G
Living in our culture of appetite can change though I think we’d need pretty severe genetic engineering. We are set up to want the “sweet” stuff to be ready for the famine that was a problem for almost humans until about 80 years ago. Besides, how will the executives and trust fund cripples gets their Gucci loafers if everyone doesn’t buy all this stuff!?!?
Jaycob P.
I would assume most places are probably not going to do traditional Black Friday sales this year. A lot of other retailers have already said they plan to be closed Thanksgiving instead of opening early and I would guess as it gets closer to the actual day they will probably back off on most sales. In all honesty last year the deals were terrible also. I don’t think I bought one thing from any major retailer.
Stuart
I have been seeing typical foot traffic volume at the local Home Depot.
Home Depot has been very intent on not encouraging any added foot traffic, cancelling traditional in-store promos.
I have been doing all of my Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping online for years. Now, a lot more people are shopping online than ever before. So, this year will likely be the biggest online shopping holiday season ever.
There’s the potential for a streamlined “curbside pickup” effort. Maybe?
There are two types of Black Friday shoppers who visit a store:
1) Someone who knows exactly what they want to buy.
2) Someone who just wants to browse for an impulse deal.
Home Depot has in some past years offered a $5 off $50 coupon for the early holiday season. A similar promo might help to convert some in-store shoppers to online shoppers.
But, even the shopper that knows what they’re shopping for might buy other deals they see at the store on impulse, and it’s hard to offer those types of opportunities online.
Here’s a complication: regardless of what stores do, there will be still be huge volumes of in-store shoppers. Stores might have to start counting customers again, or enact other capacity management methods to keep foot traffic at safer social distancing-acceptable levels.
Jaycob P.
I agree on their being a ton of foot traffic regardless of what they end up doing. Where I’m at it is rural enough most people aren’t comfortable with shopping online. Couple that with fatigue of dealing with the restrictions and I would expect a ton of people to be out.
I also think some of the more regional retailers are probably going to try to still have a Black Friday sale also. At least locally Fleet Farm and the smaller Thiesen’s farm store chain never stopped doing regular ads even in the worst of the lock downs and I would expect they still are probably going to do something.
Matt
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines strikes again.
fred
And yet – though we knew the answer as postulated by Betteridge – we still opened the link and read the post.
Stuart
Yes, but note that I answered the question in the first sentence.
I couldn’t think of a more appropriate title to match the reason for asking the question.
Aaron
One way to address this would be to put the answer in parentheses as part of the headline. I at least skim almost everything you post, so I’m not a worthwhile test of which headlines draw people in, but when I see a question headline it gives me that clickbait squirm…
There was another one a couple weeks back that had that same kind of sensationalist question followed by your reasoned/researched answer. It just feels like that kind of headline doesn’t match your style of thought.
If it helps get views and money in the door to support the content I continue to appreciate for free I guess I can be fine with it though!
Stuart
Headlines are complex.
It does seem a bit clickbaity, but I decided to keep it as-is for now. The beauty of the platform is that I can change it an unlimited number of times until I get it perfect.
Actually… one moment.
“No, Home Depot is NOT Cancelling Black Friday 2020 due to COVID”
It’s a little longer, but – hold on…
“Home Depot is NOT Cancelling Black Friday 2020 due to COVID”
I will typically write a headline, write a post, and then adjust the headline prior to publishing said post.
In this case it was a matter of the post answering the title question and I couldn’t see any easy or clear improvements.
I definitely appreciate feedback! As a reader, there are headlines that royally bother me. For instance, “HOT New Show Release Date Could Mean the Return of…” and then I read the post and there’s nothing about the release date, it’s just hollow speculation about some vague season plot.
Matt
My initial comment was more of a comment for its own sake than a criticism, but I do think the new version is a better headline.
dandLyons
Stuart – I just wanted to say that I truly value your coverage of deals, especially the holiday deals and appreciate all your hard work. I almost always wait for such events to make my purchases & typically have a list of exactly what I am hoping to buy well in advance. Often my wish list items are based upon or guided by your earlier reviews. I have long since learned to try to avoid impulse buys. Being on a fixed income these days makes bargain hunting a necessity. Whatever form the sales events may take, I know I can come here to be best informed.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and continues to stay safe in these challenging times. Thanks to all for a great community and lots of interesting discussion and insights. Happy Holiday Bargain hunting 😉
Stuart
Thank you, I appreciate it!
If you or anyone else want to send over your wishlists, please don’t hesitate to share! I can’t make promises, but sometimes know specific wants helps certain deals stand out where they might otherwise be ignored.
I built up my hand tools by watching for deal patterns and seasonal promotions, and have done the same for most non-timely power tool or equipment purchases. I cannot always do that if tool or equipment needs are timely, but generally I like to stretch my dollars as much as possible.
When I first started tracking the holiday season deals, I compiled everything out of personal interest and reference, and continued the practice because I found everyone finds it useful.
I really don’t know how this year end will play out. My gut feeling is telling me that stores will plan to de-emphasize in-store promotions, but they might still be inviting to shoppers.
We’ve been ordering household essentials for curbside/parking lot pickup at Target, but every now and then I will still go inside.
Even with the pandemic and social distancing guidelines, people will still head to stores for Black Friday.
Look what happened during the early stages of the shutdown – stores still had Black Friday-like crowds.
Home Depot has done a respectable job of cancelling in-store promos and any other initiative that might encourage greater foot traffic, but that doesn’t mean there are still a lot of people who have been shopping at stores and will continue to do so.
I hope everyone stays safe.
These changes to Home Depot’s Holiday season planning could mean more communications and even advance notice about Pro Black Friday, Gift Center, and Black Friday deals, or at least that’s what I’m hoping for. Planning our Gift Center coverage usually involves multiple visits to several stores in the first week of November to see what special buys and bundles have been set up for the season.
Jim Felt
I was curious about this long “cherished” sales event day.
And here’s the rest of the story. Apologies to the late Paul Harvey.
“Most people know Black Friday as the day after Thanksgiving, when stores open early and offer various sales. … But the true story of Black Friday is darker. The term “Black Friday” was first used on Sept. 24, 1869, when two investors, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, drove up the price of gold and caused a crash that day.”
fred
Gould came through the crash richer than ever because he had an inside pipeline into the DC establishment (via one Abel Corbin – President Grant’s brother-in-law) – so he sold off before the crash . He reportedly did not warn (no honor among thieves) Fisk of the impending action that President Grant planned to take to stabilize the gold price. So Fisk fared worse. Rather than Gould and Fisk going to jail over this – it was Grant and his administration that seemed to get more tarnished by all of this. As in other crashes – some of the folk who fared the worst (farmers in this case) had little to due with the causes of the catastrophe.
Flotsam
i know this not in the US lexicon but i kind of like the sound of Boxing Day instead
Tom D
All I want to know is where I get the deals. How they arrive doesn’t matter as much.
I’ve also heard there’s a huge shortage of building materials.
Bob
I would be happy to see it all online.
I feel bad for the employees who have to miss out on time with their families to work this foolish event. Now they are literally putting their lives at risk (covid) even more than previous years (trampling). On the other hand I would guess some of the employee’s are happy for the overtime/extra hours.
I do know some love the excitement of the thing. Guy I know waits in line all night for a cheap flatscreen every year. The wife and kid join in so I guess it counts as spending time with his family lol.
Lyle
How many TV’s does someone need?
Frank D
Maybe HD could start to have their deals online for BF and other “ events “ … maybe … vs the ongoing line up early outside, we have 12-24 items in stock in store only specials?
( ) This summer’s Ryobi special for “ two months “ was and absolute disaster, for anybody who did not walk through the door in the first day or two. Want to order online? No can do. Retail only. Except no store in the state had proper stock.
Adam
While I’d like things to be normal, I’d like to hope people aren’t worrying about BF so much this year.
Bob
Lyle its crazy. I think they have 8 flat screens! And I know he has given some away.
The funny thing is the one he gave me was made by Polaroid. Some Chinese holding company bought the rights to the Polaroid name and made some crappy TV. Color and picture was pretty bad. Even for a garage/shop/place my friends and I stare at cars and drink beer lol. The cheap mount gave up the ghost one day and broke during the fall.
It was kind of fun explaining to younger people what a “Polaroid” picture was. Or about developing 35mm film. “Wait, why didn’t you take a picture with your phone” hahaha
Toolfreak
Maybe this just means HD will release their BF ad early in the season rather than their usual practice of waiting as close as possible before BF and threatening to sue anyone who mentions it before that?
It’s really been standard practice for many years now for retailers to have a whole month or two of holiday season deals, many of which are actually better than anything on BF. The gimmick of Black Friday is really just a leftover from the past, when retail sales were concentrated on that day, before stores started being open earlier and earlier, into Thursday and beyond.
Given the current state of affairs, actually going out into stores crowded with even more people than usual seems like a really, really bad idea. The nature of Black Friday events seems like it would attract just what you don’t want – a large amount of people who are convinced they must get to the store to buy things no matter what. It won’t be much of a surprise to find that the increase in holiday store traffic contributed to an increase in infections and deaths.
bobad
I’m proud of HD for being a leader. Wish I had one in my town. I occasionally chase after a big sale there, but 60 miles is a bit far.