Black Friday 2013: Wal-Mart already offering deals on its website

Shoppers who browse the digital aisles at Wal-Mart’s website can get a jump start on their holiday shopping.

Wal-Mart is already making a number of so-called “Black Friday” deals on electronics available through its website. Included in the early digital discounts are sharp savings on seven tablet computers and TVs, as well as holiday pricing for 300 other items, The Associated Press notes.

The early deals come as Wal-Mart looks to get a leg up on rivals in what is expected to be a highly competitive holiday shopping season. At least one big-screen TV will be marked down by 36% in one of the seven top deals. In another deal, a tablet will see a 51% discount.

This year’s early discounts follow 100 deals offered on the day after Halloween last year, though those offers were confined to home products.

A Wal-Mart executive indicated that the decision to offer the seven electronics deals was made last month. He noted that a challenging economy was pressuring consumers to start looking for deals as soon as possible.

Retailers are feeling uncertain about the upcoming shopping season, with some cutting back on the number of seasonal workers they hire.

Industry experts say that the pressure of a tight economy will force retailers to eventually abandon Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the rush to attract customers earlier in the season.