Retailers may be relying on a Black Friday bonanza to make up for sales lost during the Covid-19 pandemic but a new analysis has exposed that nearly nine in ten “bargains” could be found at the same price or cheaper earlier in the year.
Consumer group Which? tracked the prices of 219 home and tech products from Amazon, AO.com, Argos, Currys PC World and John Lewis over the course of a year, for six months before Black Friday 2019 and six months after.
It discovered that 85% of products could be found cheaper or the same price in the six months before Black Friday, and a miniscule 1% of the items were at their cheapest price on Black Friday itself.
Out of the firm Which? looked at, Currys PC World (pictured) came out worst, with the retailer the most likely to have its Black Friday offers cheaper or the same price in the six months before. This was the case for 47 out of 49 (96%) products.
John Lewis, which recently dropped its never knowingly undersold strapline, was not far behind with 70 of the 78 (90%) Black Friday deals cheaper or the same price ahead of Black Friday.
AO had a total of 38 out of 44 (86%) Black Friday deals which were cheaper or the same price before the big day, while Argos had 15 out of 18 (86%) had been cheaper or the same price in the six months before Black Friday.
Amazon came out top of the retailers, but even then just over half (57%) of its “mega deals” were cheaper or the same price in the six months before Black Friday.
All five retailers denied any wrongdoing, but Which? head of home products and services Natalie Hitchins warned consumers: “Do some research first. That way you’ll know a genuine bargain when you see one.”
Whether consumers are waiting for Black Friday deals or not, according to recent research over a third (36%) of Brits plan to do all, or, at the very least, most of their Christmas shopping during Lockdwon 2.0, which still has another week to run.
The study from LiveArea, carried out by Opinium, shows only 10% of Brits say they would not do any festive shopping during period; young adults are the keenest, with 88% of under 34s planning to do Christmas shopping this month.
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