Consumer Alert: The deals are dropping! Here’s how to score Amazon’s lightning deals

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – There is no doubt about it.  The Christmas shopping season has begun.  And retailers are competing for your money.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Black Friday.  In fact, a shopping expert I chatted with said Black Friday is no longer a day; it’s a season.  Retailers are all reacting to Amazon’s Prime Early Access sale with sales of their own. And they’re trying to beat Amazon at its own game with amazon’s own products.

During its sale, Amazon offered a daily deal on its popular Amazon Echo Show 8.  The normal price is $130.  But on Tuesday it sold for almost 50 percent $69.99. 

And not surprisingly, I found the same device for sale for the same price at Target and Best Buy.

That’s because retailers are drowning in unsold inventory and they’re all competing for your dollar. 

We’re seeing deep discounts on toys, clothes, and many of Amazon’s products like the kindle, echo, and ring doorbell systems.  But Monday, experts told me that we should skip the TV deals and wait for Black Friday. But on Tuesday one expert shocked me with her revelation.  After she had checked out the sales dropping at Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart, she said the deals on televisions during this October sale are as good as we usually see during Black Friday.

“I’m honestly a little surprised by how good the TV deals are across the board,” said Kristin McGrath, a shopping expert with Blackfriday.com.  “Normally we only see this kind of variety of price drops around Black Friday, but as deals are going live from Amazon and all the merchants competing with it, we’re seeing some great TV deals right now!  Anything from those budget friendly sets to the higher quality sets as well.”

You’ll remember the television set I wrote about in Monday’s consumer alert.  It’s an Amazon Fire TV 55” 4K smart TV that retails for $570 but Amazon plans to drop 80 percent in a lightning deal during the Early Access event.  The sale price will be $112. Lightning deals are short sales on products that last only a few hours or less.  Here’s how to make sure you don’t miss those deals.

• First, download the Amazon app.
• Open the Amazon shopping app and tap the three lines icon at the bottom right.
• Tap settings
• Then tap notifications.
• Tap the toggle under your watched & waitlisted deals.

You’ll get alerts for deals before they actually go live. Then you can put the deal in your cart before they’re all gone. But if you miss a deal on Amazon, no worries. Because so many retailers are trying to keep up with Amazon, consumers benefit.  Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Bed Bath and Beyond are all dropping deals that experts say are comparable to Black Friday deals.