Black Friday from Amazon

Amazon has announced early Black Friday discounts and rebates.

Amazon customers can now find Black Friday-worthy deals and discounts across a wide range of product categories, including fashion, home goods, cosmetics, toys and Amazon devices. Popular brands including Apple, Hasbro, Sony, Shark, L'Oreal Paris, Bose and KitchenAid are partnering with Amazon on limited-time offers throughout October and November.

Shoppers will also have access to Amazon's holiday gift list to easily create and share gift ideas with their family. Amazon has also unveiled a new tool for US Prime members that will allow them to send gifts to recipients without knowing their shipping address. Instead, Prime members can use the recipient's mobile phone number or email address. The notification will notify the recipient of the purchase, which they can accept or redeem for an Amazon gift card without informing the sender.

Amazon's action comes after rival Target said it would get a head start on the festive shopping season by bringing back "Deal Days" from 10-12 October. Target's promotion offers savings on thousands of items both online and in-store. In addition, the US Postal Service has imposed temporary price increases on commercial and retail domestic parcels for the peak festive season.

Retail experts have warned consumers to start their holiday shopping as early as possible as an increasing number of companies face unprecedented supply chain bottlenecks and rising delivery costs.