Black Friday began in the United States but has quickly become a mainstay of the British shopping calendar with the majority of UK online and offline retailers slashing prices during the day (and those days around it) offering a wealth of pre-Christmas bargains and deals.

As Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 22nd November in 2018, Black Friday 2018 will be on Friday 23rd November.

Why is it called Black Friday? There are numerous urban legends surrounding the name. One theory goes that this is the day on which shops sell enough to become profitable for the year: getting out of the red and into the black. Another states that it’s tied into the financial crisis of 1869, when the US gold market collapsed, although this was actually a different ‘Black Friday’.

The real origin seems to be the Philadelphia police force, who were so fed up with the “irksome problem” of traffic jams caused by shoppers they christened the day “Black Friday”. Retailers always hated the name, wanting to swap it for the more positive ‘Big Friday’, but it stuck.

Some of the best Black Friday deals in 2018 involve consumer electronics, gaming, tablets, headphones, TVs, laptops and phones – although Black Friday deals are usually available across a broad spectrum of shopping from home and gardening to fashion, food and drink, gifts and beyond.

As tech and consumer electronics is so often at the heart of the deals, big discounts across this sector are predicted, with online only retailers like Amazon leading the charge with deep discounts on their own products like Amazon Echo, Fire Tablets and beyond. There’s also likely to be huge deals on games systems like the Nintendo Switch, XBox and Playstation, big TV brands like Sony, Samsung and LG and headphones and speakers to name but a few.

Last year most of the biggest names in shopping offered a wealth of deals, and they will largely return with even more offers designed to part you with your hard earned cash.

Expect to see Amazon, Currys PC World,  Argos,  Tesco,  GAME,  John Lewis,  Apple,  eBay,  Very and many more joining the retail party.

Following hot on the heels of Black Friday is Cyber Monday which will take place on Monday 26th November. It’s also the last big chance to snag yourself some cut-price gifts for Christmas.