As the November shopping bonanza Black Friday looms, consumers have been warned that some of the deals on offer may not be as robust as they appear.
UK consumer group Which? issued a report this week of its investigations into “on sale” items offered last year. The report says that many of them had been less expensive before or after Black Friday.
“Consumers should be wary of claims of massive savings this Black Friday as they may not be as spectacular as they seem,” said Pete Moorey, director of campaigns at Which?. “Shoppers might be surprised to learn that only half of Black Friday deals are actually cheapest on Black Friday.”
The group evaluated 178 offers on 20 sought-after gadgets in 2015 by tracking the daily prices on Amazon, AO, Argos, Currys and John Lewis. They examined prices for three months prior to Black Friday and two months after.
Of the 178, only 90 deals were at their lowest price on the day.
The report cited a Samsung TV offered by Currys for £748 had been available for £699 in September. A Vax vacuum cleaner at AO was on offer for £99 but had retailed for an average of £96.50 in the three months before Black Friday and for £69 the day before the sale began.
UK government pricing guidance holds that the earlier pre-sale price should have been the one at which the item was available for 28 or more consecutive days.
Which? said it had found numerous examples where this was not the case and that older, higher pre-sale prices had been advertised.
Currys and AO have denied breaking the guidelines. Curry said it displayed “a clear date from when the ‘was’ price was taken”. AO said: “The internet is the most transparent marketplace ever created for consumers to be able to compare price and service associated with it and we work hard to be exceptional on both fronts.
“We work hard to ensure that any promotions we make are clear and take our obligations to consumers very seriously.”
The Black Friday discounts habit was imported to the UK by Amazon in 2010 from the US where the day after Thanksgiving had traditionally signalled the opening of Christmas shopping.
Initially a 24-hour period of sales, the event has been stretched out for several days.
The start date of 25 November this year should lead to a four-day spending spree during which analysts at PwC forecast that Brits will spend £2.9 billion.
