RETAILERS will slash the price of everything from gadgets to holidays in their Black Friday deals this week.
So now’s the time to strike if you’ve been eyeing up a new buy, whether it be a new phone or vacuum cleaner.
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Don’t fret about finding the best deals – clever tech tools can do the hard work for you. But for any big-ticket buys, such as TVs or tablets, I’d recommend that you go to a store and try before buying from its website – reading about items online can only tell you so much.
Here is Sun Money’s step-by-step guide to shopping like a pro.
Don’t panic
ALL this week you will be bombarded with “unmissable” Black Friday deals labelled “while stocks last” and “limited period only”.
Don’t be panicked into spending. In most cases if prices are reduced once, they will be reduced again and possibly with an even bigger discount next time.
It’s a good time to buy something you genuinely need – if, say, your washing machine is on the blink or you need a new winter coat. But the golden rule is only buy what you would have bought anyway.
How to compare the market
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HAVING worked out what you want, compare deals. Price comparison sites are your friend here but try more than one as they don’t all compare exactly the same websites.
I’d recommend Pricesearcher, Google Shopping and Idealo.
Looking for a Christmas pressie, I searched for a Princess Elsa Magical Ice Palace Lego set on four sites this week with different results.
Pricespy gave me a cheapest price of £72.99 (Littlewoods), Google Shopping and Pricesearcher said £57.99 (Very) while Idealo flagged up an eBay deal of £63.49.
Search price history
NOW you know where it’s selling cheapest, look up the product’s price history to see how good the deal is.
Camelcamelcamel.com tracks Amazon prices – just type in the name of the product or copy a link and it shows you what it sold for previously. Pricehistory.co.uk does the same for Argos products. If these show the item has been cheaper before it might be worth holding out.
For example, the Lego set mentioned above previously sold for £38.94 on Amazon in November 2017.
If you can delay, set up a price alert. The Idealo site has a feature where you enter a target price for a certain product and it will let you know if it drops to that cost.
Tech a step back
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IF you are buying something electrical, know exactly what model you want as it’s easier to compare deals.
There will be lots of offers on old stock – which are fine if you’re prepared to forgo higher-spec versions.
Argos, for example, were last week offering £20 off an Amazon Fire tablet with 8GB storage – smaller than the standard 16GB version. It was a great deal at just £29.99, down from £49.99, but the 16GB version is widely tipped to go down to £34.99 on Amazon this Black Friday. At £5 more for double the storage space it would be a better buy.
Knowing your requirements before entering the fray will help you make the right decision.
Drive costs down
YOU’VE found your deal, now get a bit more off using discounts codes and cashback deals.
Discount codes – available from sites such as vouchercodes.co.uk – are entered at the online checkout to get money off. You can find them by Googling the name of the retailer along with the phrase “voucher code” or “discount code”.
Cashback sites like Topcashback and Quidco work differently. You visit them and click on a link before making a purchase from a retail site in order to get money back.
Sometimes you can use both a discount code and a cashback deal on the same transaction but not always.
Where they can’t be used together, you’ll need to weigh up which will offer you the greatest savings.
Vouchercodes for example is offering £10 off orders over £60 at Superdrug, while Topcashback.co.uk is offering ten per cent off Superdrug orders. They can’t be redeemed together.
Clothes contest
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ONE category where it’s worth moving quickly is clothes because retailers tend to have exclusive lines which can’t be bought anywhere else.
The most common sizes will sell out fast when items are heavily discounted.
Beat the rush by signing up for emails from your favourite brands and following them on social media to see their latest deals.
Debenhams’ Facebook page for example was promoting 30 per cent off party wear this week, with one Red Herring mini dress discounted to £17.50.
