Large-Screen TVs See Heavy Discounting in Memorial Day Promotions

TVs and small electronics were among the featured CE products in Memorial Day sales advertised Friday on retailers’ websites. Hhgregg tossed in a free 32-inch LED-lit LCD TV with the purchase of a Serta or Tempurpedic mattress set priced $999 and up, according to the ad, which specified that the TV had to be purchased in store before consumers would receive a $200 rebate in the form of a prepaid Visa card.

Also featured at hhgregg was a Lenovo 15-inch laptop with 4GB RAM and 320GB hard drive, knocked down by $70 to $299. Hhgregg clipped $20 off a 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Android 4.2 Jelly Bean tablet with 8GB memory, bringing it to $179, some $30 above the 7-inch Hisense Jelly Bean tablet that launched Friday at Walmart. A Kindle E Ink reader was marked down by $45 to $114, in store only at hhgregg, where a Seiki 55-inch LCD TV was cut by $100 to $499.

At Best Buy, the Nook Simple Touch reader with GlowLight was a Deal of the Day Friday, discounted by $40 to $79. The promotion wasn’t Barnes & Noble-sponsored, with the reader selling at the full $119 list price at bn.com. Best Buy highlighted the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone as a Memorial Day deal for $199 with free shipping on Verizon and AT&T with two-year contract, while Sprint showed the S4 for $149, including a two-year contract and $100 in “bring your number” savings.

Best Buy sought to make laptop PCs more enticing with sub-$300 deals on Toshiba and Lenovo 15-inch models that were priced at $269 and $284. The retailer took $150 off the price of a 46-inch Westinghouse TV, bringing it down to $399, and chopped $220 off its own Insignia brand 50-inch TV to reach $479, according to ads. Klipsch in-ceiling speakers, a category not typically promoted in holiday sales, were trimmed by $25 to $99 each at Best Buy for Friday and Saturday only.

Walmart skimmed $100 off the price of a Vizio 60-inch LED-lit LCD TV, bringing it to $898, and shaved $300 of an LG 55-inch LED-lit 3D TV bringing it to $798. An entry-level Sceptre 32-inch LCD TV was sale-priced at $189, according to ads.

TigerDirect featured a 70-inch Vizio LED-lit LCD TV on its splash page Friday as part of a two-day sale in which the smart TV was discounted by $400 to $1,599 with an extra $100 lopped off via a coupon good through Sunday.

We did a search for Ultra HD on the unlikely thought we'd find a minor deal, and the Google results brought up a pre-order option at B&H for a 58-inch Toshiba 4K model priced at $5,996. Directly below the listing for the TosHiba 4K Ultra HD at B&H was a listing for a Samsung 60-inch Full HD Smart 3D Ultra Slim LED TV for $2,597. We sense impending consumer bewilderment over the use of the word “Ultra” in TV advertising.