By ‘Do some research’ before buying on Black Friday
Shoppers hoping to save money this week have been warned that Black Friday offers may not be genuine bargains.
Around 85% of Black Friday product prices aren’t the cheapest they’ve ever been, says consumer group Which?
And every product in the investigation was available for the same price or cheaper after Black Friday at most major retailers – so there’s no need to hurry.
Which? urged consumers to “do some research” in order to spot genuine bargains during the November 27 sale.
Which? said: “Research has shown that Black Friday rarely offers genuine bargains – so if you’d prefer to shop in person once the lockdown’s over, you may end up paying less anyway.
“In fact, a miniscule 1% of the items we looked at in the six months before and after Black Friday 2019 were at their cheapest price on Black Friday itself.
“The vast majority of products in the Black Friday 2019 sales had been the same price or cheaper on at least one occasion in the six months before or after the sale, including 85% that were the same price or less before the day.”
Which? ‘crunched the numbers’ on 219 home and tech products advertised as ‘Black Friday deals’ in 2019, looking at a variety of well-known retailers.
- 85% were cheaper or the same price both before and after Black Friday
- 85% were the same price or cheaper before Black Friday
- 98% were the same price or cheaper after Black Friday
- 1% were their cheapest ever price on Black Friday.
Which? said: “Deals that look too good to be true often are, so don’t fall for time-limited offers and if you are looking for something in particular, do some research first.
“That way you’ll know a genuine bargain when you see one.”
Responding to the research, most retailers stressed to Which? that they price-matched throughout the year.
- Amazon said: “We seek to offer our customers great value thanks to low prices all year round as well as a number of fantastic seasonal deals events.”
- AO World said: “Last year’s Black Friday event had over 9,000 fantastic and fair offers for customers and we expect this year to be even bigger.”
- Argos said: “Our Black Friday event gives customers access to hundreds of products at their lowest ever price. They may also be part of sales and promotions we run the following year.”
- Currys PC World said it price-matched throughout the year and has additional sales “to ensure we keep our promise of amazing tech that is affordable and accessible”.
- John Lewis said: “In addition to the variety of offers we have in-store and online during the promotional period, our never knowingly undersold price promise means that we continuously monitor and match the prices of our high street competitors throughout the year.”
