Walmart splits Black Friday into three events. Amazon runs one long one

Walmart has announced three holiday events and Amazon one. Each announcement describes its own calendar as if the other did not exist. Put them on one timeline and the month has a shape that neither of them mentions.

Short answer. Walmart runs Early Black Friday Deals from 12 to 15 November, Black Friday Deals from 23 to 29 November, and Cyber Monday Deals from 30 November to 2 December. Amazon runs Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday from 19 to 30 November. Walmart starts a week earlier. The two only run together from 23 to 30 November.

Nov12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30Dec1 2Walmart: three eventsWalmart+ members get select online deals for the first 24 hours of the first two4 days7 days3 daysAmazon Black Friday Week and Cyber MondayDouble deal drops on 27 and 30 November12 days

The four events as a table

Event	Dates	Online start	Members first
Walmart Early Black Friday Deals	12 to 15 November	12:01 a.m. ET, 12 November	Walmart+, select deals, 24 hours
Walmart Black Friday Deals	23 to 29 November	12:01 a.m. ET, 23 November	Walmart+, select deals, 24 hours
Walmart Cyber Monday Deals	30 November to 2 December	12:01 a.m. ET, 30 November	None announced
Amazon Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday	19 to 30 November	12:01 a.m. PST, 19 November	None announced

Walmart goes first, and then stops

Walmart's first event opens online at 12:01 a.m. ET on 12 November, and in stores at 6 a.m. local time the same morning. It lasts four days. Amazon has not started yet; its event opens a week later.

Then Walmart stops. From 16 to 22 November there is no Walmart event at all, and on the 19th Amazon opens its twelve days. For four days, 19 to 22 November, Amazon has a Black Friday event running and Walmart does not.

The hour matters as much as the day. Amazon opens at 12:01 a.m. PST on 19 November, which is 3:01 a.m. ET. Walmart's main event opens at 12:01 a.m. ET on 23 November, which is 9:01 p.m. PST on the 22nd. Read in Pacific time, Walmart's Black Friday starts on a day that the calendar still calls the 22nd.

Eight days together

From 23 to 30 November both retailers are running an event, and these are the days every plan is built around. Inside them, each has its own peaks.

Amazon has announced two. On Black Friday, 27 November, and on Cyber Monday, 30 November, Today's Big Deals drop twice, at midnight and at 8 a.m. PST. Walmart's in-store Black Friday deals also begin on 27 November, at 6 a.m. local time, four days into its online event.

Walmart's first day of the overlap is not fully open to everyone. During its first two events, select online-only deals are reserved for Walmart+ members for the first 24 hours. On 23 November, the first day both retailers are live, those Walmart deals are members only until 12:01 a.m. ET on the 24th.

Target went first and has not said when its Black Friday week is

Target is not on the chart because its announced dates sit outside it. Its early Black Friday sale ran from 5 to 7 November, a week before Walmart's first event. Since 1 November it has run a new Deal of the Day every day, through 24 December, with new limited-time deals every weekend.

What Target has not announced, as of 10 November, is the dates of its Black Friday week or Cyber Monday. A plan that includes Target has a gap exactly where the other two are busiest. Some Target discounts are for Target Circle members, but Circle is free and no membership is needed to shop the sale.

Two days at the end with Walmart alone

Amazon's event runs through 30 November. Walmart's Cyber Monday Deals runs from 30 November to 2 December. That leaves 1 and 2 December with a Walmart event still badged and promoted, and the Amazon event finished.

It is the same pattern as October, when Walmart's Fall Deals ran four days after Prime Big Deal Days had closed. A budget written around Amazon's calendar stops on the 30th and leaves those days unfunded.

The same budget leaves at different speeds

Across the whole period Walmart has fourteen event days in three blocks: four, seven and three. Amazon has twelve in one block. The totals are close. The shapes are not.

An Amazon allocation runs continuously for twelve days, with two days announced as peaks. A daily cap set for the average day will run out on the peaks. The Walmart allocation arrives in three bursts with a week of nothing in the middle. A cap that is right for the seven-day event spends too fast in the four-day one and does nothing at all between 16 and 22 November, unless someone decides what the account does in that week.

Walmart also has bid floors that Amazon does not: $0.20 for automatic Sponsored Products, $0.30 for keyword Sponsored Products, and $0.50 per match type for Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Videos. A plan to bid low on Walmart during the quiet week stops at those numbers.

A four-day event is over before its first day is reported

Walmart Connect reports with a delay. In normal use the most recent complete day is the day before yesterday, and even that keeps filling in as attributed orders arrive.

On a four-day event that delay decides almost everything. The first full day of data for 12 November is available on the 14th, when half the event has already gone. Any change to the Early Black Friday campaigns has to be planned before the 12th; there is very little to react to while it runs. The seven-day event gives more room, but the decisions for Black Friday itself, 27 November, are being made on data that runs to about the 25th. On Amazon, with reporting close to live, reacting inside the twelve days is realistic. The other differences between the two consoles are in Walmart vs Amazon: 10 differences PPC managers need to know.

What is already decided

On 10 November, two days before Walmart's first event, deals and inventory are mostly settled. Deal submissions run through Seller Center and Vendor Central with their own deadlines, which close well before each event, and the Q4 inventory cutoffs for Amazon have passed.

What can still change is the advertising plan: which of the four events the catalogue is in, how budgets are shaped across three Walmart bursts and twelve Amazon days, and what each account does in the week between 16 and 22 November and on 1 and 2 December.

Last checked

10 November 2026. Amazon's dates are from its own announcement of 9 November. Walmart's are from its 26 October announcement as reported by Parade, and match the event graphic Walmart published. Target's are from USA TODAY's report of its schedule; Target had not yet dated its Black Friday week. Neither retailer has stated an end time, so day counts above are calendar days.

UNITIX Agency runs Amazon PPC and Walmart PPC management for the same brands, which is why this is written as one calendar rather than two. October's version of the same comparison is Walmart Fall Deals vs Prime Big Deal Days.

Sources

• Amazon, Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday 2026 dates, start time and deal drops: aboutamazon.com
• Walmart's three 2026 holiday events, start times and Walmart+ early access, from Walmart's 26 October announcement: Parade via Yahoo Shopping
• Target's 2026 holiday schedule and Circle membership: USA TODAY via Yahoo Shopping
• Walmart Connect minimum bids: developer.walmart.com

Event dates are announced by the retailers and do change. Where a date matters to a decision, check it against the retailer's own page before acting on it.