Just one in seven Black Friday deals offer a genuine discount and the vast majority of promotions are cheaper or the same price in the six months before the sales event, a study has found.
Which? analysed 214 Black Friday deals last year across seven major retailers – Amazon, AO, Argos, Currys, John Lewis, Richer Sounds and Very – looking at their prices every day in the six months before and after last year’s event on November 26. The watchdog found 183 (86 per cent) were cheaper or the same as their Black Friday price in the six months before the event and 209 (98 per cent) were cheaper or the same price at other times in the year – none was cheaper on Black Friday alone.
Which? concluded that although there were some deals to be had on Black Friday, genuine discounts were “often few and far between”. Ahead of this year’s Black Friday on November 25, Which? urged consumers not to “fall for the hype” without carefully examining whether items were really worth buying and that the “discounted” price offered a genuine saving.
