Shoppers warned to be cautious over Black Friday deals
Black Friday always made headline news as prices in retail stores were slashed across the board in perfect timing for Santa arriving at Christmas.
On top of the that, across televised news bulletins footage of eager shoppers queuing outside stores hours before opening would be shown.
Carnage often ensued as doors opened, with numerous memorable videos surfacing of militant shoppers wrestling their counterparts over televisions and other heavily discounted electrical goods.
Times are changing however, and Black Friday is no longer just one day – with some shops in Glasgow, including the Isle of Skye Candle Company, showing advertising signs for Black November, offering a whole month-long incentive of deals.
Which? Consumer group have estimated that Scottish shoppers will spend over £2bn – but savvy shoppers looking to find themselves a bargain have been warned to be cautious.
Which? Have also suggested that nine out of 10 Black Friday deals have been the same price or cheaper at other times of the year.
Sarah Johnson, director of merchandise consultancy Flourish Retail, said: “I think there are definitely a lot of brands which are increasing prices before hand to then make discounts look like they are more exciting.
“The problem for brands now though is that there are so many of these price comparison sites popping up where you can see the pricing history – so its quite easy now for brands to be caught out.
“Retailers have always been trying to act in the loss-leader market, I mean for example Debenhams used to do a mega-day before Black Friday, so these things have always been apparent – just not on such a large scale.”
Due to such a wide variety of offers available to consumers online – Sarah believes that people might have to act in a cleverer manner to be able to pull off getting the most out of their cash.
She added: “I think you have to do a bit more research now – years ago it was the case, that you were just getting a good bargain, and you could trust it face value.
“But now there has been so much proof around actually pricing mishaps, and it’s much more difficult to know if you’re actually getting a good deal on Black Friday.
“It’s not necessarily the best time to buy something – but if you need it in time for Christmas, then it could well be.”
