Black Friday – can you really bag a bargain?

Despite a reduction in spend this year due to the cost of living, there is still big money to be made on Black Friday 2022.

It is estimated that 39% of UK adults Brits plan to spend a whopping £3.95 billion over Black Friday weekend, albeit reduced from 2021’s £4.8 billion and 2020’s £6 billion! Shoppers are estimated to spend £189.59 each on average, a drop since last year’s £275.

What is Black Friday?

Born in the USA, Black Friday typically fell on the first Friday after Thanksgiving, marking the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.

Having made it to UK shores in 2010 thanks to a promotion by Amazon at the time, and then picked up by other retailers in 2013, ‘Black Friday’ is now the term used to describe the biggest shopping event of the year, where consumers expect to be warmly greeted by huge discounts, online and offline.

This year Black Friday takes place on the 25th November in the UK, swiftly followed by Cyber Monday which is the online shopping version of the same. However, there is little to separate the event in terms of offline vs online, as most sales now take place online and offline during the period of Black Friday to Cyber Monday anyway (25th November to 28th November).  

What are the most popular Black Friday deals?

Believe it or not, the most popular items are small kitchen appliances! These make up 22% of purchases, followed by gaming consoles and home decorations (both 20% each). The least popular items are vacuum cleaners, but still 9% of buyers will purchase one.

Just under half (46%) of us will shop solely online – but shoppers do spend fractionally more when they are in-store compared to online, although this figure has been dropping significantly over time.

Here’s an interesting stat: 26% of men are shopping for gaming consoles, while 24% of women shop for home decorations.

Are Black Friday deals really a bargain?

Generally speaking, you are likely to find items that have been reduced on Black Friday. But how genuine are these reductions? For Black Friday 2021, Finder.com decided to follow 24 products across six of the UK’s most popular retail categories, via four popular retailers, analysing thousands of price fluctuations over a 12-week lead up to Black Friday.

This is what they found:

There was an average price reduction of 5.7% on Black Friday compared to previous price over the 12-week period.A quarter of all items tracked – 25% – had actually increased in price on Black Friday!Fashion saw an average Black Friday reduction of just 15%.The most popular category, household appliances, had increased by 1.6%.PAW Patrol My Size Lookout Tower saw the biggest rise in price, which increased by 51%!The five worst deals ranged from 10% to 51% MORE on Black Friday, courtesy of Amazon, Argos, The Hut and Currys.

Here’s a breakdown of the most popular categories and averaged price changes last year:

Black Friday: it’s as good as your research!

Some of most generous Black Friday discounts last year included a 36% reduction on a Levi’s Sherpa Jacket, 36% reduction on a Fitbit, and a 30% discount on a Joseph Joseph Totem Intelligent Waste Recycle Unit, all via Amazon.  A Simba Hybrid double mattress was reduced by 45% by the retailer, and Which? even found two rare Apple deals on an iPhone and AirPods Pro!

The best way to get the most out of Black Friday is to know what you want well in advance, and then check on the day to see if it is discounted. One easy way to compare prices now is via PriceRunner – enter general or model-specific information. Make a note of today’s prices and check in again on Black Friday.

The worst way to shop on Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) is to impulse buy, with one in five people regretting purchases made in the sales.

It’s also important to be aware of underhand pressure tactics used by retailers – ‘200 people are viewing this right now’, ‘100 watching’ are ones we’re all familiar with!  There are also the issues we’ve flagged, where the sale price is the normal price, or more than the normal price. It doesn’t matter how many Black Friday banners and posters a shop has to entice a spending frenzy if it doesn’t benefit you at the till.

If you do suffer from buyers’ remorse, you do have a 14-day window to return non-faulty products under the Consumer Contracts Regulations – and some retailers do extend this. This applies for online and in-store purchases.

Tip: Follow reputable sources, such as Which?, MoneySavingExpert or Finder.com who will some of the best deals on the day! MoneySavingExpert also lists their predictions leading up the event.

Sources: Finder.com, Which?