There is no avoiding the fact that Black Friday is stressful. Very stressful. We’re all suddenly put under this mysterious pressure to engage with this really fucking weird faux phenomenon that involves purchasing stuff on (and around) one rather unremarkable day.
Despite my better judgement, I’ve found myself absentmindedly scrolling through all of these ‘special’ sales under the illusion of making big savings on things that I definitely don’t need to buy. I’ve been drawn in by the lure of ‘better than half price’ deals but it turns out that by jumping on the Black Friday bandwagon, we might be spending more than we need to.
Last year consumer expert Which? tracked the prices of 35 of the most popular products that are on sale for Black Friday – the tech, home and personal care products and found that 60 percent of the items were either cheaper or the same price at the other time of the year. Bit of an awkward. realisation, isn't it?
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One of the examples Which? gave was a fancy bean-to-cup coffee machine by DeLonghi. In the Black Friday sale, it was on Currys/PC World for £349 and was advertised as being a massive discount from the £729.99 it was being sold for throughout September and October. However, Which? found that the advertised saving wasn’t actually that great because the coffee machine had actually been selling for £579.99 for three weeks prior to Black Friday. They also found that the machine stayed at the Black Friday price for the best part of December too. So that feeling of panic and urgency you’re feeling right now, might not be necessary at all.
On the one hand, it’s all the nature of the game. A Currys spokesperson said: ‘We are bemused as to why a long established consumer-focused organisation such as Which? would think that it is untoward for retailers to reduce prices on some items to a point lower than it had been in November.’ It makes sense for stores to try and cash in on the spike in consumer madness at this time of year, I guess. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we should feel obliged to take part in the madness. Especially when all the 'savings' we think we're making might be better at a different, less stressful time of year.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.