How to find the best Black Friday deals

We have all seen the video footage of Black Friday shoppers going completely mad - often for items they don’t even need or want, but all in the name of the discount! Black Friday is a great time to find a deal or two, but if you do not go in with the right approach, you will just be wasting your own time. The key to a successful Black Friday is research - after all, why would you spend money if the product isn't good. If you aren't prepared, you will not make the best decisions and end up waisting money. Here are some tips to help you make and stick to your budget.

Go for gift cards

An easy way to make sure you get a good deal, is to go in with discounted gift cards. Most retailers offer gift cards, and some great savings on top of that, just for the fact that you got the gift card in the first place! This is free money - discounts in your pocket before you even hit the store is a great way to save.

Black Friday is a multi-sensory, multi-media, multi-everything experience. From the in-store experience to the social media activity preceding the event, to the newsletters and special offers that back up the overall experience, there is a lot to take in and process. The traditionalists love the crushing in-store experience, but with a bit of research, it is easy to find a selection of stores that offer Black Weeks or Black Months instead, which takes a lot of pressure of you, and comes with the added bonus of online buying.

If a brand seems weird, it generally is

Of course, the point of Black Friday is to get a cheap deal, but don't forget that not all brands are of equal quality. It is perfectly possible to buy an item with great-looking specs, but is of poor quality. Of course, not all lesser-known brands are terrible, but your odds of success with a discounted big brand is far greater than if you were to try your luck with a no-name brand. Chances are that if you cannot find much information about the product online, it is better to avoid.

Befriend the Email

Look at the shops where you would be most inclined to go in a regular situation and sign up for their newsletter ahead of time. This way, you get to see their regular prices, so that you know and understand how much of a discount you are actually getting during Black Friday sales. You should also give yourself enough time to get a couple of emails, from which you could do a comparison - 2 to 3 weeks should do the trick.

Get critical about pricing

Just because it has a Black Friday sticker slapped onto it, doesn’t make it a good deal! There have been several scandals involving companies bloating their prices in the period leading up to Black Friday, in order to make the discounts seem more significant. Not only is this unethical, it also violates the trust of people who have come to know and love the brand.

To make sure you get a good and fair deal, set up your accounts so you start getting price alerts on items you need or want well in advance.

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