The holiday shopping season is the busiest time of the year for retailers like Walmart, Target, Kmart, and Kohls. With Black Friday being the biggest day of mark-downs, sales, and coupons each year, millions of shoppers turn out nationwide to catch the best deals before they’re gone.

This year, Walmart is giving its customers a jump on the competition by launching its Black Friday weekend sales beginning on Thanksgiving evening. This is a major change from past practices, as normally the store does not offer sales so early on Thursday evening, out of respect for the Thanksgiving holiday and family traditions.

Competition Heating Up

The announcement for two sale events to be held on Thursday evening this year came after several other stores released similar announcements. The competition for Walmart includes Best Buy, Target, and Macy’s who all plan to offer special deals to their customers.

Walmart will be holding two special sales on Thursday, one at 6 p.m. and one at 8. p.m. — which is a full two hours ahead of last year’s seasonal sales. This is an obvious push to boost profits and increase the huge amounts of holiday sales revenue during the season from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Stores Are Adapting To Consumer Demand

According to Brad Wilson, the founder of BradsDeals.com, the shift to hosting major sales on Thursday is a “big move.” While some stores will still have deals that are exclusive to Friday, there will be many top rated deals available on Thursday. Some of the deals will only be available on Thanksgiving day, which will force consumers to shop that evening if they want to cash in on those offers.

Wilson said that being open on Thursday in the past did not necessarily mean there were any major deals to be found, but that all changes this year. “We saw even in the last two years, when stores were opening Thursday they weren’t necessarily kicking off their promotions on Thursday – the best deals wouldn’t necessarily start at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. This really shifts the focus.”

Thursday Sales Could Relieve En-Masse Shopping On Friday

With stores offering deals throughout the night on Thursday, shopping on Friday might possibly be a little less crowded than normal. Analysts believe that the attraction of shopping on Thanksgiving night, rather than on Friday morning may very well allow shoppers to get their purchases without being mauled for the last 4 slice toaster on the shelf.

This year, Walmart will not be the only store to offer Thursday deals. Toys R Us will be opening at 5 p.m., Best Buy unlocks its doors at 6, and Target will open at 8. However, a new line of competitors is forming this year as Macy’s, J.C. Penney, and Kohl’s will be opening for the first time ever on Thanksgiving. The big news on the competition front is Kmart, with its plans to open at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning and remain open for a long stretch of 41 hours.

Walmart Guarantees Products

Walmart has offered a guarantee of products to its customers, which comprises a list of 21 items. This is 18 more than the store offered last year, but there is a catch. In order to be guaranteed to have one of the items on the list, you will have to stand in line during the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. These are the scheduled hours for the Thursday sales events, so be sure you’re in line early if your gift item is in the list.

Walmart is also offering shoppers the convenience of standing in line for a wristband confirming their purchase of the guaranteed item, then go shop for other products. Some of the deals this year are better than ever, and include hot electronic items like a 16 GB iPad for just $199 with a $100 Walmart gift card. You can also grab the iPhone 5c for just $45 or the 5s model for just $189 and both of these come with a $75 gift card as well.

Where will you be shopping this Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Tell us about the deals you plan to rack up on in the comments below.