Top 10 shopping tips for Black Friday.
Post updated on 20/11/2017.
I’m always looking for ways to cut the cost of Christmas shopping. Last year I told you how to ‘Give people more for less this Christmas’ with my Top 10 places to buy second-hand goods, (HERE). However, there are plenty of opportunities to get cracking deals on new products in the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales.
This weekend, online and high street retailers are slashing the prices of hundreds of fantastic products. If you want to make the most of the Black Friday offers and grab a Christmas gift bargain, read on! I’m going to tell you how to find the best deals so you’re all set for the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
Times have changed!
‘When I were a lass’, there was no hope of finding cut-price goods on the high street in the run-up to Christmas. Mind you, when I was growing up, there were no home computers, no mobile phones and the word ‘internet’, never mind ‘Cyber Monday’, would have drawn a complete blank. How times have changed!
In the last decade, we’ve seen high street stores promoting sales throughout the year. What’s more, if you’re prepared to wait, you can even buy your Christmas gifts in the January sales because they start in December!
The Black Friday Phenomenon.
In recent years, we’ve seen the arrival of a new discount shopping phenomenon, courtesy of our American friends across the pond, Black Friday. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving heralds the beginning of an extended holiday weekend for Americans. It has become the day for stores to offer shoppers huge discounts and bargains on all sorts of goods and services.
If you’d mentioned Black Friday to the younger me, I’d have thought it was something ominous or best to be avoided. However, for savvy shoppers, Black Friday and it’s close relative on the other side of ‘Thanksgiving’ weekend, Cyber Monday, are the perfect opportunity to pick up a Christmas shopping bargain. In fact, in many shops and online stores, the Black Friday deals started last week and are set to continue well into next week too.
Be prepared!
As you may have already noticed, for some online and high street retailers, the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales have already started. For example, Amazon’s Black Friday deals started on Friday 17th November 2017 (Check out my post and how you can get 30 days of FREE delivery HERE).
Amazon.co.uk are offering some incredible prices on gifts, technology, games and more right up to Black Friday itself (23rd November). If you don’t want to miss out on a bargain, click here: Amazon Black Friday Deals.
If you haven’t already taken advantage of the early bird Black Friday deals, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time to benefit from some great offers.
Top 10 shopping tips for the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales:
1. Make a list!
There’s no point filling your shopping basket with cut-price gifts if they aren’t what you and your loved ones want or need.
2. Set yourself a budget.
There are lots of great deals out there but if you don’t set yourself a budget you’ll be tempted to spend more money, not less!
3. Watch out for delivery charges.
Don’t forget to consider the cost of delivery when you’re shopping online for Black Friday bargains. Look for FREE delivery voucher codes and promotions and if online retailers offer free delivery on goods over a certain value, try and meet that minimum (as long as you only buy what you want).
4. Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime.
Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime (HERE), and get free unlimited one-day delivery for 30 days. As an Amazon Prime member, you’ll also benefit from unlimited movies and TV shows, secure unlimited photo storage, early access to Lightning Deals and free on-demand, ad-free music streaming. Just remember to cancel your membership before the end of the trial if you don’t want to continue or you’ll be charged an annual fee of £79.
5. Visit Money Saving Expert.com’s Black Friday & Cyber Monday Alert Service page.
As well as confirmed deals, you’ll find out about predicted deals too. For more information, click HERE.
6. Sign-up to Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert Mailing list.
Sign up to Money Saving Expert’s mailing list and receive regular emails about the latest Black Friday and Christmas deals. The e-newsletters are also jam-packed with information on other deals, freebies and information to help make your money go further. Visit the Money Saving Expert website HERE.
7. Visit myvouchercodes.co.uk’s Black Friday Deals page.
Get up-to-the-minute information on the latest sale offers at My Voucher Codes, (HERE). Their informative deals page also gives you plenty of tips and advice on grabbing a Black Friday bargain.
8. Cashback websites.
Save even more money by visiting retailers via a cashback website like Quidco or Topcashback. Cashback websites work by giving you 100% of the referral commission they receive when you click through and buy from one of their featured retailers. Cashback websites also let you know if there are any promotional codes and voucher codes available for your chosen retailer. Visit Quidco (HERE) and Topcashback (HERE) to find out more.
9. Promotional codes and voucher codes.
You can save even more money by using voucher codes and promotional codes. Visit Vouchercodes.co.uk and Myvouchercodes.co.uk to find out more.
10. HotUKDeals.
The Hot Uk Deals website is a fantastic resource for finding out about the latest Black Friday deals, voucher codes and offers from a huge range of retailers. What’s more, readers share information about less well-known deals they spot online and on the High Street. Visit Hot UK Deals, (HERE).
Get Shopping!
Have you bagged any Black Friday bargains or do you have any tips to share about your experiences? As always I’d love to hear from you.
If you’ve found my Black Friday shopping tips useful, please don’t forget to share this post with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. Better still, pin it for later!
Thanks for reading.
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