Black Friday will soon be upon us and before long we will be absolutely inundated with all sorts of advertisements for special deals, discounts and sales relating to every type of product under the sun. With so much on offer, it can often be quite difficult to differentiate the wood from the trees. That’s why you need to make a plan before diving headlong into the wild world of Black Friday Week. Here are some top tips that will help you make the most of this most exciting of shopping extravaganzas:
Conduct Research In Advance
The most important thing to do in the run up to Black Friday Week is to perform some comprehensive research in advance. Sometimes retailers will be sneaky and offer low-quality products simply because they want to clear out old stock that they couldn’t shift during the previous season.
With that in mind, be sure to make a point of checking out reviews prior to purchasing anything. It is imperative that you research the items you’re looking to purchase long before Black Friday so that you can be sure of their original price. At times, the prices of the items will be bumped up by the shops before Black Friday Week so that the discounts appear to be a lot more impressive than they actually are. Some retailers have been known to jack up prices the month before starting a sale, knowing full well that nobody is browsing their stores at that time, much less purchasing anything.
Plan Your Browsing
You should try to figure out a particular plan of action for optimizing your savings. Furthermore, make a list of the products which you want to purchase as well as the shops which carry them. This will allow you to save time by only browsing through the sites you have interest in. It is all too easy to become consumed by procrastination on a big sale day and waste many hours achieving precious little, eventually ending up purchasing items which you didn’t really need or want at prices which could have been bettered elsewhere.
Check Comparison Websites
Try to use online price comparison websites like pricegrabber.com or bizrate.com so that you can see what prices different stores are charging for the same products. While these are often great sources of bargains, you should check out the websites of stores which are not featured on them as well. Oftentimes, price comparison sites charge stores a fee to be featured on their databases, so those shops which do not feature on them have less overheads and will often pass the saving on to the consumer. That’s not to say that price comparison websites are bad, more that they should be used to compliment your standard store browsing instead of replacing it entirely.
Look For Stores’ Specific Black Friday Pages
Most online stores will have their own specific Black Friday pages which they have set up to give shoppers a place to visit so they can browse the latest deals quickly and easily. While many websites will have an easily spotted link to such pages on their home page, some don’t. It is a good idea to google the name of your favourite stores along with ‘black friday’ to get to these useful pages as quickly and easily as possible.
Set A Budget And Stick To It
Try to set a total spending budget for Black Friday Week and do your best to stick to it. Figure out how much exactly you will be able to spend over the course of the week (and don’t forget that Cyber Week comes immediately after Black Friday, so you may wish to put some money aside for that too). It is not judicious to drown yourself in debt due to overspending on discounted goods. Ask yourself, do you really need to buy six pairs of sneakers just because they are going cheap?
Shop In Safety
Online crimes and scams are common during a big shopping event like Black Friday and, therefore, you must take additional precautions for safeguarding your bank balance. Oftentimes, scam artists will try to impersonate well-known retailers in an attempt to lull eager shoppers into a false sense of security. Be sure to keep a look out for the padlock when you’re on a site’s payment page. This is a symbol that your card details are secure, and that no one nefarious is watching and trying to steal your details.