Best Buy fights shopping lull with 20 days of deals

The lull in the holiday shopping season is upon us and Best Buy is trying to do something about it.

There's often a trough between the shopping frenzy of Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the last-minute rush the week leading up to Christmas. And this year, that gully is expected to be especially pronounced since many procrastinators may have looked at the calendar and realized they have a whole weekend to shop in the final countdown since Christmas falls on a Monday this year.

To motivate people not to wait until then, Best Buy is encouraging people to shop now with a new promotional strategy this year it's calling "20 Days of Doorbusters" that started December 1. It's an amped up version of the "Deal of the Day" it has on its website every day of the year.

Best Buy has laid out on a calendar for the month of December and lists the general category of the deal for each day such as "big-screen 4K smart TV" to "iPhone" to "headphones." It doesn't reveal the specific product and price until the actual day in the hope of bringing more web traffic to its site and turning more shoppers into repeat visitors.

And since Best Buy knows that customers often wonder if they should wait until closer to Christmas when prices may drop, the company is guaranteeing that the deal will be the lowest price Best Buy will offer on that product all season.

Some of the sales so far have included $200 off a MacBook Pro, 50 percent off a Dyson V6 animal cord-free vacuum (deal price: $249.99), and more than half off of Sony extra bass wireless noise-canceling headphones (deal price: $114.99).

Most of the deals are available in stores and online and will be good while supplies last or until 11:59 p.m. CT on the day of the deals.

This isn't the only new twist in Best Buy's promotional strategy this holiday. It also released about 150 Black Friday doorbuster deals in early November, well ahead of Thanksgiving, in a push to get sales moving earlier during what is a very competitive and promotional season.

After two tough holiday seasons, Best Buy is hoping for a better showing this year. Last month, it raised its forecast for the holiday season which now calls for comparable sales growth of 1 to 3 percent. Its results were dinged last year due to various product shortages and recalls.