It’s that time of year again when we hit the shops to start, or finish in some cases, our Christmas shopping, but if you’re after a good deal you no longer have to wait till Boxing Day to dive into the sales when the biggest discount day is tomorrow – Black Friday.
On Friday 27th November, retailers are cutting down prices, giving us a head start on our Christmas shopping. Discounts, discounts and more discounts!
According to the Telegraph, the term ‘Black Friday’ originated “more than 50 years ago by Philadelphia police officers to describe the chaotic day after Thanksgiving when the city was overrun with the traffic of consumers flocking to the Christmas sales.”
Not only are we lucky enough to have a whole day purely dedicated to discounts in-store and online, but there is a continuation every year on the following Monday – Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday was invented in 2005 and relates to the first day back to normality after the weekend of Thanksgiving; this year it falls on 30th November. Although big names offer many online bargains on Black Friday, another whole day is dedicated to online-only discounts on Cyber Monday. Lucky us!
Most of the sales will begin at midnight or 8am; however Black Friday is slowly making its way sooner and sooner with some retailers having launched discounts as early as Monday this week!
So where can you find the best deals? Here goes…
Amazon kicked off a whole week of deals on Monday 23rd November, also cutting the cost of Amazon Prime.
Argos has also got in on the craze early, offering deals a whole three Fridays leading up to Friday 27th.
Ebay has been launching new deals at 8am every Monday starting with Monday 23rd till the 30th.
Halfords are reducing children’s bikes at up to half price from Friday 27th to Monday 30th.
Last but not least, John Lewis states on its website again like last year, that “we match our competitors’ prices all year round – so on this day, we’ll have even more deals to enjoy.”
Last year, Black Friday saw a huge mess in stores, high-flying figures of sales and an unbelievable amount of people raiding the shelves. Regardless of this, stores such as Asda have decided not to take part this year. Tesco on the other hand will remain involved but will be closing their Extra stores from midnight tonight until 5am tomorrow, in order to tame the craziness of Black Friday.
Shops were super busy last year, whipping up an extortionate amount of sales, as well of people in each store. Asda saw hundreds of people queuing up outside overnight before trampling and crushing each other when the store finally opened its doors… (No wonder they have opted out this time round!).
So do be aware of the negatives which come alongside this major shopping day. Perhaps shopping online is the safer and easier option! Don’t get trapped in the scuffles, make sure you participate in Black Friday like a pro.
Mariana Despina Charalambous
