Everyone thinks they know how Walmart plays the game. You wait for the big paper to drop, you circle the TV you want, and you show up at 5 a.m. to fight over the last air fryer. But the Walmart Black Friday ad 2024 basically nuked that tradition. If you were looking for one single "ad," you were already behind.
Walmart didn't just release an ad; they dropped a 37-page digital roadmap split into distinct "events" that turned the entire month of November into a marathon. Honestly, it was a lot to keep track of.
The Three-Wave Strategy
Walmart broke things down into three specific windows. The first wave hit online on November 11th. Then came the "main" event on November 25th, leading into the actual Friday. Finally, they capped it with Cyber Monday starting December 1st.
Wait.
Did you catch that?
Cyber Monday actually started on a Sunday.
If you waited until Monday morning to check the Walmart Black Friday ad 2024 for web deals, the best stuff—like those $154 AirPods Pro 2—was already long gone. This shift caught a lot of people off guard. It’s not just a "day" anymore. It's a series of timed drops.
Why the Walmart Black Friday Ad 2024 Was Different
Most people missed the fine print.
Walmart+ members got a five-hour head start on almost every major deal. If a TV went live for the public at 5 p.m. ET, members were already picking the digital shelves clean at 12 p.m. ET.
It felt a bit like a pay-to-play system, which frustrated plenty of shoppers on Reddit and TikTok. But from a business perspective? It was brilliant. They even slashed the price of a year-long membership to $49 just to get people in the door.
The Door-Busters That Actually Mattered
Look, every year there’s a "cheap" TV. In 2024, it was the 65-inch Samsung DU69 4K Smart TV for $398 and a 75-inch TCL for $378.
💡 You might also like: Bulldog and Company Photos: Why Your Business Visuals Actually Fail
But the real wins were in the mid-tier tech.
The Walmart Black Friday ad 2024 featured the M1 MacBook Air for $599. That’s a massive price point for a laptop that still runs circles around most budget Windows machines. We also saw the Dyson V12 Detect Slim drop to $399.99, which is about as low as that model ever goes without being a "refurbished" gamble.
- Apple AirPods Pro 2: $154 (A record low at the time).
- Keurig K-Express: $29.88 (Basically the cost of a few boxes of pods).
- LEGO Sets: Many were 50% off, specifically the Technic and Star Wars lines.
- Nintendo Switch Bundles: The classic Mario Kart 8 bundle stayed at $249, but the OLED version finally saw some movement.
The "Special Buy" Trap
You’ve seen the label.
"Special Buy."
It sounds exclusive, right? Kinda. In reality, these are often products manufactured specifically for the Black Friday season. They might have one fewer HDMI port or a slightly different plastic casing than the standard retail model.
The 50-inch onn. Roku TV for $148 is the perfect example. Is it a high-end OLED? No. Is it perfect for a kid's playroom or a dorm? Absolutely. Just don't expect it to compete with a $1,000 Sony.
How to Actually Win Next Time
If 2024 taught us anything, it's that the physical ad is a ghost. It’s a relic.
You need the app.
The app allows you to "heart" items in the Walmart Black Friday ad 2024 before they go live. When the clock strikes noon (for members) or 5 p.m. (for everyone else), you aren't searching. You’re just hitting "add to cart."
The Secret of Event 2
Everyone goes crazy for Event 1 because it's the "start." But Event 2, which started November 25th, actually held the deeper inventory for home goods.
Carote 17-piece cookware sets for $64.99? That’s a $135 savings.
Shark Matrix Robot Vacuums for $148? That's half off.
These aren't the flashy "look at my new iPhone" deals, but they are the ones that actually save you the most money on things you use every single day.
Don't Forget the Returns
Walmart extended the return window through January 31, 2025, for almost everything bought during the Black Friday events. This is a huge safety net. If you bought a laptop in the first wave on November 11th and saw a better one in the Cyber Monday drop, you had the freedom to swap.
Most people forget this.
They get "buyer's remorse" and just live with it. Don't do that.
Actionable Strategy for Future Sales
- Audit your membership: If you aren't a Walmart+ member, the "early access" window will leave you with crumbs. Watch for the $49 annual deal in early November.
- Check the "Restored" section: The 2024 ad pushed "Restored" (refurbished) tech hard, like MacBook Airs for under $200. These are hit-or-miss, so check the warranty.
- Ignore Thanksgiving Day: Walmart stores remained closed on Thanksgiving 2024. The "door-buster" is now a "couch-buster." Stay home.
- Verify "Was" prices: Retailers love to inflate the "original" price to make a $20 discount look like a $100 discount. Use price trackers to see if that "Special Buy" is actually a deal.
The Walmart Black Friday ad 2024 proved that the old way of shopping is dead. It’s fragmented, digital-first, and rewards the people who have a plan weeks in advance.
If you're still looking for the best way to handle these sales, start by mapping out your "must-haves" in late October. By the time the official ad scans leak in early November, you should already know exactly which "Event" has your name on it.
Next Steps for You
- Compare the 2024 prices against current "Clearance" items to see if you're actually getting a better deal now.
- Download the Walmart app and set up your payment info ahead of time to avoid "out of stock" errors during checkout.