Walmart to have wristbands for doorbusters on Black Friday!

The Walmart Black Friday ad was officially released late last night. Walmart’s 1-hour In-Stock Guarantee is back, and you’ll need to get a wristband for certain in-store doorbusters. As they did last year, Walmart will stagger sales events beginning at 6pm and 8pm on Thursday 11/27, and then 6am on Black Friday, with additional savings continuing through Cyber Monday. Walmart President and CEO Bill Simon explained. “We’re excited to give our customers an incredible Black Friday with shopping hours that will allow them to take advantage of great prices on Thanksgiving night and all weekend long.”

Not sure how the wristbands work? 

For the first time ever Walmart also offered a one-hour guarantee on select doorbuster deals. If the item wasn't available or in-stock, you were guaranteed delivery no later than December 23. Most notably Walmart introduced its Black Friday wristband program. “To help improve the shopping experience Walmart, for the first time in all stores, will hand out wristbands so customers can shop while they wait for some of the hottest items,” said Simon.

Last year Walmart launched some of its Black Friday sales at 6pm, two hours earlier than the year before. Other products went on sale two hours later at 8pm. Before 6pm and 8pm customers were able to wait in a designated line in-store to secure certain products with a wristband. Once you have a wristband you can continue shopping and then “come back to the designated line within two hours after the event start time to pick up their product,” according to a news release. If your reserved item goes on sale at 8pm, for example, you have until 10pm to pick up your doorbuster. The number of wristbands available for each item is limited to the quantity available. If there are only 15 60” TVs available at doorbuster pricing, only 15 wristbands will be distributed for that model. The more expensive the product, the fewer wristbands you can expect to be given out. One Walmart employee that we spoke with recommends getting in line for a wristband two hours before the event start time.

To recap:

1. Wait in line for a wristband at the department selling the item you want before the sale starts.
2. Get the wristband for your item, guaranteeing that you will get your item.
3. You have 2 hours from the start of the sale to collect up your item.