Wal-Mart to offer rolling holiday deals

Wal-Mart will slowly open the spigot on its Black Friday deals this year instead of flooding customers with them all at once, a strategy that reflects consumers' changing holiday-shopping behavior.

The nation's largest retailer will launch its first round of in-store Black Friday deals at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. That set of deals will have an emphasis on toys, home goods, movies and video games. At 8 p.m., Wal-Mart will kick off its electronics sale, which is to include small items such as Fitbit wristbands and bigger ones such as Samsung Smart high-definition televisions. And for shoppers who prefer not to venture out on Thanksgiving, still more deals will kick in Friday at 6 a.m., when the retailer will offer 30 percent off some Samsung televisions and toys from Fisher Price and Monster High.

Wal-Mart says the rolling deals are designed to accommodate what it has heard from consumers about when they want to shop during the holiday weekend.

Online customers will be able to start shopping Wal-Mart's holiday sales even earlier. Hundreds of Web specials will be available on Wal-Mart's Web site beginning at 12:01 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Wal-Mart was among the last of the major retailers to announce its plans for Black Friday. Many of its rivals, including Target, Sears and Macy's, will also kick off their deals at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Others, including Toys R Us and Best Buy, will start their sales at 5 p.m.

Best Buy also is staggering its Black Friday deals this year. The company said its first batch of deals would kick off at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. More deals will launch Friday at 8 a.m.