Have you made your plans yet to go power shopping on Black Friday? The day after Thanksgiving has been given this nickname because it marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season and has traditionally been the day on which stores begin to show a profit. Black Friday is so named because once upon a time, accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated financial losses while black ink indicated profits. Retailers traditionally offer deep discounts and extended hours on Black Friday to allow shoppers to empty their wallets.

To assist those who might be inundated by the bargain-hunting chaos, OnStar is providing peace of mind by opening up its navigation services to anyone with an OnStar subscription on Black Friday. "We understand that these are challenging times for our subscribers, and everyone is looking for bargains on their holiday gifts," says Rich Martinek, OnStar Navigation Service Line Manager. "We think opening up our services is a great way to help our more than 5.5 million subscribers navigate through the commotion while traveling store-to-store."

Not sure how to efficiently get to all the destinations on your shopping list? Simply use OnStar's turn-by-turn navigation to plan your route! Just press the blue OnStar  button to request a route to a specific address, or ask an advisor to help you find the nearest shopping center or restaurant.  Advisors have access to an up-to-date database of more than 13 million points of interest.

Besides deals on jewelry, electronics, and home entertainment systems, the analysts at TrueCar.com,  suggest that Black Friday will also offer the biggest average markdowns of the year in the automotive marketplace. While the yearly average transaction price for a new car is 4.7% under sticker price, TrueCar.com predicts that the average discount on a new car on Black Friday will be a whopping 7.5%! In fact, TrueCar.com says discounts from dealerships, as well as manufacturers' incentives, will culminate to create the highest discounts of the year on Black Friday,  with some vehicles achieving discounts as high as 15 to 27 percent off the manufacturer's suggested retail price!

If you're caught up in the frenzy of Black Friday shopping, Suzuki encourages shoppers to stop by their nearest Suzuki automotive showroom for a respite - or a deal on a new Suzuki Kizashi.  While Suzuki dealers may not be open as early as some of the more aggressive retailers such as Sears or JC Penney (which open at 4 a.m.), most showrooms should be manned by 8:30 to give early morning shoppers three or four hours of the mad shopping scramble before escaping to the relaxing environment of an American Suzuki outlet.

Creative commons shopping image by jmarty at flickr.com