Bargain hunters entering Macy's just after midnight are greeted by Occupy Wall Street protesters on 'Black Friday' on November 25, 2011 in New York City. Marking the start of the holiday shopping season, 'Black Friday' is one of American retailers' busiest days of the year. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

From Madame Noire Business: 

Ahhh… Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving where most retailers open early and offer highly-discounted items to kick off the holiday shopping season. Or the day when shoppers run amok during the wee hours of the morning in the name of holiday cheer. Whichever definition you prefer.

For some people, Black Friday is totally worth the money-saving hype, and for some it’s not. For us, we look forward to Thanksgiving night where we browse through Black Friday store ads and map out our game plan for execution. To help you decide whether to partake in the Black Friday madness, we’ve outlined a few tips and ideas to see if it’s worth your while.

Key strategies that most retailers follow are competitor price-matching and placing their hottest items on the front of their Black Friday ads. This practice draws larger crowds and anticipates higher revenues year-over-year. The downside of this for most consumers is that these items are usually limited per store. For example, a store may only have 10 televisions to sell at an unbeatable price. If you’re not one of the first to purchase a particular item, you’re out of luck. To make sure you’re one of the ones to get the most out of this Black Friday’s sales, here is is what we’d advise.

Read the rest of this story on Madame Noire Business.