What are Walmart's Black Friday plans? A mysterious sale today could be a clue.

When it comes to announcing holiday programming, Walmart typically has its Black Friday plans laid out by mid-October. In 2022, it trumpeted the return of its monthlong Black Friday Deals for Days event on Oct. 19. The year prior, its reveal came on Oct. 18. And in 2020, it arrived out of the blue on Oct. 14.

As of Wednesday, Oct. 25, we still haven't heard a peep about Black Friday 2023 at the big box store. But an upcoming sale on the Walmart website could be a sign that we're not too far off.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Black Friday 2023: The first early deals arrive in late October

The unnamed sale, which was advertised in a banner at the top of Walmart.com homepage at the time of writing, plugs "deals you can't miss" that go live in early access at 12 p.m. ET for paid Walmart+ members before they're open to all shoppers at 2 p.m. ET. There were only five featured deals listed when we last checked, including an LG stick vacuum, an RC buggy, and a cheap dupe for the GE Profile Opal Nugget Ice Maker. Most of them come from third-party merchants, which we recommend avoiding.

This "early access for paid Walmart+ members" formatting is reminiscent of past Black Friday Days for Days events at Walmart, as is the glittery blue branding that accompanies the sale's landing page. It wouldn't be a total shocker if this event was tied to the official Walmart Black Friday rollout, which is long overdue at this point.

Credit: Screenshot via Walmart

This is all pure speculation, FYI, and we've reached out to a representative for Walmart to find out what's actually going on. We'll update this story if/when we hear back.

The only retailer that has confirmed its Black Friday plans thus far is Best Buy, which will be releasing some early Black Friday deals over the weekend. (Paid members of its My Best Buy program get exclusive access to them from Oct. 27 to 29 before everyone can shop them starting Oct. 30.) The official Best Buy Black Friday sale will run for nine days from Nov. 17 to Nov. 25 before it shifts into Cyber Monday mode for the following two days.

This story is developing.