On Black Friday, most products are 0% off

The Future. The steepest inflation in 40 years has raised the cost of living more than usual in 2022, and shoppers are on the hunt for discounts. But they’re not likely to find them because, according to the consumer rights group Which?, the vast majority of products discounted for  Black Friday are actually the same price or cheaper during other times of the year. It might be best to just wait for those post-holiday savings…

What’s the deal?
Which? analyzed 214 Black Friday deals from seven major retailers and compared them with their products’ prices on every other day of the year.”

• 183 of these 214 studied products — 86% of them — were the same price or cheaper at some point in the six months before the sales event.
• 209 of these products, or 98%, were lower priced at some point during the year, and not one single product was cheapest on Black Friday alone.
• Which? accused Amazon and Very as the retailers guilty of the most dubious discounts, reporting that over 70% of their analyzed products were cheaper at other times of the year than they were during past Black Fridays.

Some retailers also raise costs just before Black Friday, only to reinstate normal prices on Black Friday and call them discounts.

Early bird gets the worst

Retailers prepare for the best case if they can, stocking up for Black Friday and the holiday season in hopes that they won’t have excess inventory. If they do, they’ll be forced to keep prices low or even slash them further for the rest of the year in order to offload their products.

The earlier you shop, the less power you have over retailers; the later you cave, the more desperate they’ll be to offload excess inventory, and the more likely you’ll encounter a genuine deal. Good things come to those who wait.