Why wait until Black Friday?

Fighting for early consumer holiday spending in a poor economy.

Traditionally, Black Friday marked the start of the holiday shopping season... but that's now in the past. It's early November and the promotions to attract 2011 holiday spending dollars have already begun.  A variety of business types are already doing it -- Home Depot, Glade, ebay, Kmart -- and more will start soon.

Via television commercials, websites, print ads, social media, and discounts, businesses are already vying for this year's holiday consumer spending that is projected to be lower due to economic conditions.  Businesses worry that if they wait too long to attract shoppers, consumers will spend their limited holiday dollars elsewhere.