Most Black Friday deals at some of the country’s biggest retailers are cheaper or the same price at other times of year, according to a Which? study.
In its study of last year’s Black Friday season, the consumer champion found eight out of 10 products were not at their best price.
It tracked 175 items from eight major retailers in the year to May and found 83% were cheaper or equal in price at least once outside the four-week Black Friday period (15 November to 12 December).
We’ve outlined the findings below – and some pretty robust responses from the retailers involved.
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John Lewis was one of the worst culprits, with Which? finding 94% of products were cheaper or the same price at another time of year.
One example of an apparently dud deal found at John Lewis was a Samsung Jet Bot Robot Vacuum Cleaner, which was £350 on Black Friday, but had been £299 for 29 days in May and June 2024. It was £399 for 35 days in August to September, before jumping to £500 during the first week of October.
At Very, Which? found 93% of deals were cheaper or the same price at another time of year.
One of the examples researchers found at the online retailer was the Dyson V11 Extra Stick Vacuum Cleaner, which was £349 during the Black Friday period – but it was the same price on 29 days before and on 41 days after the sale.
At AO, 85% of Black Friday deals were at the same price or better at other times of the year.
Despite promising that sale items would not have been cheaper in the six months before Black Friday, 84% of deals at Currys were available for the same or a lower price in the six months before and after the sales period.
Which? also found that Amazon’s Black Friday deals were cheaper or the same price in 88% of cases, and cheaper in 63% of cases outside the sales period.
In contrast, Richer Sounds had by far the best performance in the analysis, with only 55% of analysed products found to be cheaper or the same…
