According to Statista, consumers in the UK are expected to spend over £9 billion over Black Friday weekend this year (Friday 29th November – Monday 2nd December), but is Black Friday just one big scam?
Black Friday: More Than Just One Day
Every year, Black Friday creates a huge buzz, persuading us to whip out our wallets and get spending to catch the best deals of the year. Despite its name, Black Friday is not confined to one day of the year either, with many businesses offering Black Friday deals for long weekends, or even for the entire month of November.
Additionally, although it is now the week following Black Friday, the craze hasn’t ended, as today (2ndDecember 2024) is now Cyber Monday, and tomorrow is Travel Tuesday. It appears there is no shortage of catchy names out there to encourage us to spend, spend, spend!
Black Friday is Not Always the Cheapest Time to Buy
Which? have investigated the pricing history of 227 Black Friday deals from 2023 to find out how many were actually cheaper or the same price as at other times of the year. They checked the pricing history in the 6 months before and after Black Friday for these deals advertised by some of the biggest retailers last year. They found that:
- Every single one of the offers they checked was available for the same price or less at other times of the year than Black Friday itself
- Around 4/10 of deals were cheaper at other times of the year than Black Friday
How has Black Friday gathered so much traction then? How have we been convinced that we are saving money when we might not be?
Well, many places push their prices up on the run-up to Black Friday so that they can cut them again and claim that they have taken a significant percentage off the price. Additionally, it’s easy for us to get sucked in by advertisements, as it can be hard to turn down a bargain.
However, it’s important to remember that it is only a deal if it is something you already planned to buy before the discount. Otherwise, you are spending money that you would not have otherwise spent.
It’s worth checking the price of things across multiple different websites, to see whether a ‘deal’ being offered is actually special or not. You can also the check the price history of different products to see whether it’s actually cheaper now than it is at other times in the year. Which? has a few different links you can use to check this.
All of this is not to say that there are no genuine Black Friday deals that will save you money! It’s just that not every offer is actually a good deal, and it’s worth looking into the pricing of things before you buy to figure out which places might be pulling the wool over your eyes…