Walmart's 2016 Black Friday ad is here: a first look

Once again Walmart has made serious moves to win the Black Friday shopping season on price.

Customers shop at Walmart's Black Friday shopping event last year in Rogers, Ark.

Gunnar Rathbun/Invision for Walmart/AP Images

November 10, 2016

It's here, it's here! We've just posted the Walmart Black Friday ad, and while we're still combing through it for the best deals and more specific details, we do have early highlights to share with you. Seriously, we've been dying to share this with you all day.

"I said it before and I will say it again, we will win the season on price – on Black Friday, on Cyber Monday and every day before and after," said Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S. "That means delivering the Black Friday deals we’re known for in stores, online and on our app. And, we’ve secured significant availability of these items. We pride ourselves on not being the retailer who advertises a great price and then only has a few available."

Walmart Black Friday Hours

In-store deals start at 6pm local time and, yes, you'll need to get a wristband well ahead of that time to get some of the juiciest doorbusters. However, if leaving your family Thanksgiving to score a cheap TV isn't your cup of tea, the majority of deals will be available online beginning at 12:01am ET on Thanksgiving morning. Walmart said in a Wednesday morning press call there will be 50% more deals on Walmart.com than last year.

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Black Friday Deals Available Now through the Walmart App

In conjunction with the release of Walmart's Black Friday ad, these online-only deals are available all day Thursday 11/10.

Note: When we ran these deals by our tech editors this afternoon, they weren't all that impressed with the Hitachi TV, pointing out that a standard 1080p HDTV has a better picture quality than most low-end 4K models for about the same price. We also think we'll see slightly smaller but higher quality 4K sets for about the same price.

Highlighted Black Friday Deals

Not every deal listed below is on Walmart.com yet. What that happens, we've linked to a search query or category that should eventually turn up the item listed.

Wristband Items

Wristbands are back, and doorbusters that require them will be listed in a interactive store map again this year, available beginning on 11/17. Stores will hand wristbands out before the 6pm start time – check your local store for more specific details – and you'll need to be back within 2 hours of your local start time to get your item. For most of the country, that will be 8pm local time. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.

Looking for a new phone?

Here's the details on the annual wireless phone event, directly from the press release:

Howard University hoped to make history. Now it’s ready for a different role.

"Customers looking to take advantage of Walmart’s annual wireless phone event can make appointments while at the store on Thursday night beginning at 6:00 p.m. Walmart’s wireless offer includes a $250 Walmart gift card and $0 down when qualified customers purchase a Samsung or Apple phone and sign up for an installment plan with AT&T Next or Verizon Device Payment. Phone activations will begin at 9:00 p.m. on Nov. 24."

We'll be posting a more detailed analysis the Walmart Black Friday ad very soon.

This article first appeared in Brad's Deals.