Black Friday 2020: How to spot a genuine bargain

The retail phenomenon has continued to pick up pace every year, growing from a UK spend of £0.8bn in 2014 to £1.49bn in 2018 according to online retail specialists IMRG.

And 2019 saw another leap with the average transaction up 16.5pc on the year prior.

But are the 50pc off emails and the coupon codes really as good as they seem?

Apparently not, says Professor Ratula Chakraborty of the University of East Anglia.

The business management expert said: “Black Friday deals are rarely true bargains and usually just a means for retailers to get rid of excess or old stock. Consumers should be wary as prices may well have been lower earlier in the year and then artificially hiked in advance of the sale to magnify the claimed discount.

Shops along Edinburgh's Princes Street as retailers gear up ahead of Black Friday. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday November 23, 2016. Photo credit should read: Jane Barlow/PA Wire (Image: Archant)

“Waiting a month for the January sales might be a better bet, once the Christmas rush is over and retailers are desperate to sell off unsold stock.

“As ever, the best advice for bargain hunters is to ignore headline discounts and instead focus on comparing prices across stores to find the lowest possible price, and only buy something when you are absolutely sure you need it and not merely because it was discounted.”

Indeed consumer magazine Which? tracked the most popular items on sale in Black Friday 2019 and found that 95pc of the products would be marked down to the same price or cheaper in the following six months.

Moreover it found that 61pc of the items were discounted to the same price or cheaper even before the Black Friday period.

But where this may be the case for the online giants smaller companies may also want to capitalise on a public mentality of looser purse strings.

Professor Joshua Bamfield of the Centre for Retail Research said that he expected Black Friday sales to double from their current levels.

He predicted that online sales would rise by 52.9pc where bricks-and-mortar sales would fall by 64pc.

But although the Black Friday banner is largely being waved by multiples, independents looking to make an impact can benefit from increased consumer awareness, he said.

"Although Black Friday is something used more by bigger retailers looking to shift stock I think that independents can utilise the customer's mentality that they have money they want to spend on deals.

"If people have £50 in their pocket that they had earmarked to spend on Black Friday they're going to spend it - whether they really need the item or not, but they want to make the most of the bargains. Independents might be able to make the most of that and give themselves a boost in the run up to Christmas."

He added that Black Friday pressure also has a downwards effect in some cases on stockists.

"When you're looking at small retailers like corner shops for example you might see Black Friday deals on alcohol or cigarettes. That's because across the market there is a downwards price pressure which then will be shared across all stockists."
A pedestrian wearing a face mask in Norwich amid the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Denise Bradley (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)
And Andrew Mower, development manager for the East Anglian region for the Federation of Small Business, said: “Small firms don’t tend to dominate the headlines on Black Friday, but many of them will be offering deals on their truly unique and high-quality products that you can't get elsewhere.

“The fact that so many local businesses participate in Black Friday despite the lockdown is a mark of how effectively some have adjusted to the pandemic by moving their products and services online.

“However, plenty of other small firms remain entirely dependent on in-store trade, and we hope consumers will support them by shopping local over the crucial Christmas period.”