Black Friday shoppers warned to be wary of deals

Black Friday shoppers should beryllium wary of deals to debar being ripped off, retail experts person warned.

Nine retired of 10 Black Friday offers are cheaper oregon the aforesaid terms astatine different times of the year, according to probe by user radical Which?.

While Sarah Johnson, manager of merchandise consultancy Flourish Retail, told the BBC immoderate brands whitethorn inflate prices up of income to marque discounts look bigger.

Black Friday primitively marked the time aft Thanksgiving successful the US but successful caller years the income person extended into the weeks earlier and after, with Cyber Monday driving millions successful online sales.

Shoppers spent an estimated £13.3bn during the Black Friday income successful 2023, according to Which?.

Ms Johnson said: "It utilized to beryllium that you had to found a terms for 28 days earlier it could beryllium changed, but this is nary longer the case.

"As a result, galore brands inflate prices successful the lead-up to Black Friday, allowing them to advertise 'big discounts' that, successful reality, aren’t genuine."

Which? researchers looked astatine 227 products successful past year’s Black Friday fortnight betwixt 20 November and 1 December.

The deals analysed were from 8 of the biggest location and tech retailers successful the UK and immoderate of the products connected connection were the aforesaid terms oregon cheaper astatine antithetic times successful the year.

In what it called "one of the worst examples", Which? recovered a hairdryer priced astatine £18.99 successful a Boots Black Friday deal, claiming to beryllium reduced from £49.99.

However, the merchandise had ne'er been £49.99 astatine Boots successful the preceding 12 months.

Which? said a spokesperson for Boots told it its researchers had "reviewed a precise tiny fig of our Black Friday deals from past twelvemonth and successful each cases, the items were astatine a little terms whilst connected promotion oregon erstwhile terms matched against competitors." The BBC has contacted Boots for a comment.

Which? besides highlighted a erstwhile John Lewis Black Friday woody which featured a smartwatch discounted to £294 with a redeeming of £90. But Which? recovered astatine nary constituent successful the erstwhile 12 months had it been sold astatine £384.

Which? said a John Lewis spokesperson told it: "The caller instrumentality of our reimagined Never Knowingly Undersold marque committedness - which matches prices with 25 starring retailers - gives customers implicit assurance that they are getting fantastic value.”

The BBC has contacted John Lewis for comment.

Harry Rose, exertion of Which? Magazine said: “We privation retailers to driblet the sneaky pricing tactics truthful consumers are not misled astir the deals connected offer."

He advised shoppers to comparison prices astatine aggregate retailers and usage websites which cheque the product’s terms history.

"That mode you’ll cognize a bully woody erstwhile you spot one," helium said.

• Be wary of products for merchantability astatine excessively bully to beryllium existent prices.
• Make a database of things you privation to bargain and instrumentality to it to debar impulse purchases.
• Focus connected buying less but higher-quality items alternatively of snapping up tons of lower-priced deals and you'll trim discarded portion redeeming money.
• Beware of fake websites and cheque the URL belongs to the authoritative brand.
• Watch retired for posts from a recently created societal media account, oregon links to a precocious created website. You tin usage a domain checker similar who.is to cheque erstwhile a website was created.
• Read reviews and lone bargain from authorised sellers and websites.

Source: Which? and Flourish Retail