Black Friday: 11 top tips to grab a bargain deal
Ashleigh Swan is a mother-of-three who runs the Ashleigh Money Saver website, offering expert advice on bagging the best bargains.
She shares her top tips for making the most of the Black Friday sales.
1. Look online
If you are worried about safety we recommend you do your Black Friday shopping online. For the last two years fights have broken out in store because we are all trying to bag a bargain. If possible, don't take the children.
2. Budget
Do your research on items on your list before hand. Check out reviews and see if there is an alternative product that is cheaper and does the same job. Also keep price-checking products in the run up to the event in case they go on special offer and work out cheaper.
3. Plan ahead
Make a list of items you want. Don’t impulse buy as this will just mean you end up spending more money, cancelling out any amazing savings you could have made.
4. Map
Map your shop. If there is more than one retailer you want to go to, work out which store has the items you would like the most, which store will be busiest and check to see if the opening hours will change for Black Friday.
5. Eat well
Eat breakfast and set off early. Shopping can be tiring at the best of times, but Black Friday is intense. A 30 minute shopping trip can burn lots of calories and getting hungry means tempers fraying. The police have already warned shopping outlets that they could need security and fights could break out. So keep hydrated and put a bottle of water in your bag.
6. Be early
If you are doing your Black Friday shopping via the web please get online early. Last year a major electrical retailer had one of the highest discounted Black Friday online sales. They put a queue system in place and people were still sitting in the queue several hours later and missed out. Not just on that but on all their other shopping too. Over 2000 people were queuing before me. I opted out at this point.
7. Check bargain sites
Top retailers and shopping centres send insider information to AMS every day so I am able to put out unique information listing retailers discounted events and sales (20% off days etc) before they happen.
8. Keep a list
Make your lists of products in the event, a price list and photos of the item(s) before you leave.This is perfect when you are doing your preparation and price checking. This could sound over-the-top but when you are battling with crowds, hot and tired, this helps you focus and not get distracted.
9. Price match
Many large department stores price-match their competitors, and that includes Black Friday. Do your research and price-match. For an even bigger saving, log on to the Ashleigh Money Saver Facebook page for up to the minute updates on insider discounts and bargains
10. Ask for deals
This year, you can expect bargains from across the board. Research your favourite websites ahead and even other outlets such as your favourite hairdresser. Just ask ahead and they might even put up a discount just because you have highlighted it to them if you are a regular customer.
11. Don't forget Cyber Monday
If you miss out on Black Friday don't panic! There's also Cyber Monday, which is all online bargains and starts on Monday 30th November.
Ashleigh blogs her money-saving tips at ashleighmoneysaver.co.uk. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of ITV News.