If you’re ever looking to save bundles of cash on tech, fashion, stuff for the home or kitchen gadgets, Black Friday is a date you absolutely need to bookmark. The mammoth sale, which takes place this month, sees all the hottest products plummet in price.
I’ve been covering and tracking discounts in the Black Friday sales for eight years now, and I frequently save all my non-emergency indulgent buys exclusively for the sale period. It really is the best time to find a super discount on items for yourself or gifts for Christmas, and the shopping event has only grown since scenes of shoppers fighting over TV deals in the aisles of Tesco graced the 10 o’clock news.
But when almost every retailer under the sun participates in the Black Friday sales, it can all get a little overwhelming. Where do you go to find the best deals? How do you know who has the best savings? And are there any secrets to making the most of the sales?
Here, I’m imparting almost a decade’s worth of Black Friday knowledge to you, so you can uncover the best discounts when the Black Friday sale rolls around. From pitfalls to avoid to things you must do ahead of the main event, here are my top Black Friday tips for securing the best deals.
Expert Black Friday shopping tips
1. Start making a wish list now
It’s not the most thrilling thing in the world, but planning and getting prepared is kind of essential if you want to save the most money on Black Friday. A deal isn’t a deal if you don’t actually need the thing that you’re about to buy. So, saving money starts with making a wish list.
Grab a pen and a piece of paper or pull up the notes app on your phone and write down every single thing you want or need, as well as how much it costs and the date. That way you won’t go feral on Black Friday, buying everything you don’t need just because it’s got a shiny little red discount tag next to the price.
By writing down the price, date and retailer, you’ll be able to compare the cost of it on Black Friday (or any other time you look up the product online) to make sure you’re really getting a good deal. I’ve been dying to get one of those cult Air-Up water bottles, so I’ll write down the price of it today and compare the price of it on Black Friday. If it has an appealing discount, I’ll chuck it into my basket.
2. Register for an account at retailer websites ahead of time
There’s nothing worse than getting caught up in the frantic hubbub of Black Friday, only to realise you can’t check out straight away. When a seriously good Black Friday deal appears, online retailers can be overwhelmed with new customers trying to create new accounts.
This can result in precious minutes lost, and if it’s a particularly popular product or a lightning deal on Amazon, it might sell out or see its price bumped back up.
3. Sign up for membership schemes
Beyond signing up for an account at all your favourite retailers, there are certain membership schemes that can make shopping on Black Friday more worthwhile – the ones of note are Amazon Prime, a Costco membership and AO’s five-star membership.
While you don’t need Amazon Prime to shop the discounts during Black Friday, the retailer sometimes runs invite-only deals exclusively for Prime members during the event. I’ve seen the retailer do this for its Fire TVs in the past, so if you can afford the Prime membership, it could be worth it, given you also get free next-day delivery and access to other perks, such as Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music and more. Amazon Prime offers a 3-day free trial, after which it costs £8.99 per month or £95 per year.
Costco also has some of the best Black Friday discounts in the sales, but you absolutely need to be a member if you want to partake. An online-only membership costs £15 for a year. I saw the best deals on Apple’s tech, including AirPods, iPads and MacBooks at Costco during the last Black Friday sale.
Elsewhere, online retailer AO has a five-star membership program. Signing up gets you free and unlimited deliveries, member-only star savings that aren’t available to regular customers, a free unpack and old appliance recycle service and a 100-day return period. Signing up sometimes brings the price of its Black Friday offers down even further and is particularly handy for those integrated home appliances not sold anywhere else. AO’s five-star membership costs £39.99 per year.
4. Compare the prices of products against other retailers
Once you’ve created your wish list and Black Friday has arrived, you’re going to want to ensure you get the very best price available. That requires a bit of price-checking. I recommend doing a quick Google search for the exact product and checking to see how the prices differ between sites.
For example, if I’m looking for a new iPad, and it’s currently on sale at Amazon, I’ll then head to other retailers such as Argos, John Lewis & Partners, Currys and AO.com to make sure it isn’t the same price (or cheaper) there. If it is, I might consider shopping at the other retailer if it offers better perks, such as a longer warranty. I’ll also check price comparison websites such as PriceRunner and Price Spy. If this all sounds like a bit too much work, fear not, as the IndyBest team will have guides to all the best deals, and we’ll be doing all of this for you, so you won’t have to worry about checking for the best prices – the guides will have the very cheapest discounts.
5. Keep an eye on retailers who price match
Shopping around is key when it comes to Black Friday, but even if your favourite retailer doesn’t have the cheapest price, it’s good to check to see if it will price match other retailers. You might prefer one retailer because of its longer warranty period, customer service or generous returns policy, but it might not offer the lowest product price on Black Friday.
AO offers price matching if you call up the retailer with the product number; Boots price matches on beauty electricals after buying the product, letting you claim back the money up to 72 hours later in-store; Currys will price match products that you’ve found cheaper elsewhere when you call up; eBay will price match other websites, including Amazon; and I’ve seen Booking.com price match rooms in the past (though this one is a little trickier to secure a price match for).
Retailers have different terms and conditions about their price match promise – a lot don’t price match against Amazon, some only price match if there’s a physical store, and some only price match if the product has the exact same guarantee and warranty details. It can all get a little technical, so it’s not something to rely on.
6. Watch out for no-name brands
While I love shopping on Amazon, it’s full of no-name brands that churn out poorly-made products and rake in the cash on Black Friday. The IndyBest team and I will never recommend these products, and despite the attractive price tag, you’ll often find that these products break very, very quickly. Avoid, avoid, avoid. I’ve noticed this is particularly bad when it comes to smartwatches, laptops and wireless earbuds. If the deal looks too good to be true and the price tag is jaw-droppingly low, it’s probably not worth buying.
Keep an eye on IndyBest’s range of Black Friday guides for (actual) good deals from reputable brands. The Independent will only be highlighting brands we’ve reviewed in the past and products the team has tested (with tasty discounts) will get higher marks.
7. Remember that Black Friday starts earlier every year
Black Friday starts earlier and earlier every year. In fact, I’ve already seen the likes of John Lewis, Argos and AO launch their sales. In previous years, some of the best deals actually drop a week before Black Friday begins, and stay the same price throughout the sales period.
One word of caution though. I’ve noticed that some retailers sneakily increase the price of products during Black Friday itself, despite dropping the price a week prior. This goes back to the price comparison point. Keep checking the prices of products throughout the month of November because sometimes the product will drop to all-time lows ahead of Black Friday, and you won’t want to miss out.
Admittedly, this is difficult to do because you never know if a product will drop even lower on Black Friday itself, but in most cases, if a retailer has kicked off its Black Friday celebrations (which could be a week or two ahead of time), it’s unlikely to tamper with the price too much. Amazon is the only retailer that might do this – it reportedly changes the price of its products 2.5 million times a day.
8. It really doesn’t matter if you shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday
If you’re wondering whether you should shop the sales on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the answer is: it really doesn’t matter. While traditionally, Black Friday was reserved for in-store savings and Cyber Monday for online savings, it’s all the same thing now. Cyber Monday has just morphed into shorthand for the last day of the Black Friday sales.
Having covered the Black Friday sales for the past eight years, the deals you get on Cyber Monday are basically the same as the deals you’ll find on Black Friday. The only reason you might want to shop during Black Friday instead of Cyber Monday is that some products might sell out by the time Cyber Monday rolls around if they’re particularly popular.
9. Check out the IndyBest Black Friday liveblog
The IndyBest team aren’t just curating guides of the best Black Friday deals, we’ve also kicked off a nifty liveblog, which will be ongoing all the way through November up until Cyber Monday. The liveblog is being captained by a team of IndyBest deal experts, who are busy rifling through a torrent of discounts on offer to bring you the best Black Friday deals worth caring about.
