Establish a list and budget of the products and services you intend to buy in advance

No matter how good the offers are during this month, only purchase what you had set out to buy, understanding why you are making that purchase. Create a distinct list and Google search the retail price to see how much it currently sells for. Price check or Google search will be sufficient and will give you the price range for the item across various sellers e.g. A brand new Iphone X 64gb is roughly R15 000 however a certified pre-owned (CPO) would be cheaper, about R9500. You would need to take into account specifications such as color, whereby black products could be cheaper or more expensive than perhaps red, depending on the product.

Black Friday is not only for physical products, service based businesses also offer deals on this day such as SweepSouth Cleaning Service. Budget appropriately, either total spend or per item spend and aim to not exceed that amount.

What could you buy?

• Products and services you have been eyeing for a while, hoping to get at a discounted price.

• Flights and accommodation - bare in mind the current global pandemic and travel restrictions.. We have also provided very detailed resources of the best places to target for this on these posts.

• Large appliances and electronics - furniture, TV’s, washing machines, laptops, cameras and more.

• Educational content, courses and books.

• Daily essentials in bulk - household cleaning products, non perishables etc.

Beware, prices may have already started being hiked so that on Black Friday, products appear ‘discounted’. Just because it says marked down, does not mean the price has actually been reduced from its normal selling price.

Tips for your Black Friday shopping and deals available in 2020 for South Africa

• Some deals are only released the day before or day of Black Friday & Black Friday weekend. Check the websites or follow the social media accounts for these brands to stay in the loop as the deals are released.

• Sign up to newsletters for early access to Black Friday deals specific to sites you are intending to make purchases from.

• Ensure you have created your account on the respective sites as this can be a separate process to signing up for newsletters.

• Most retailers will use this sale period to get rid of old stock, not everything will be on sale and limited stock numbers are sold.

• Try to make your purchases online however expect delays in delivery.

• Websites are known to crash due to high volume of people trying to purchase at the same time, be patient. Use multiple devices to try get access to sites.

• If you have added items to your cart before the sale starts, these tend to be cleared. Rather add the items to your wishlist, bookmark links or save the direct links so that you have quick access to the items and speed up your process on the website.

• Sales starts at midnight i.e by 00:01 or 1201 am 27 November 2020, you can begin your shopping.

• Be cautious with your personal and banking details as you shop to avoid phishing and scams. Shop online safely with secure and trusted sites. You should see a lockpad or https in the browser.

• Support locally produced brands and businesses where possible.

It is perfectly fine to not buy anything during the Black Friday weekend. Generally, better specials are available from Boxing Day, 26 December into January. Regardless, be wise during this time and may you find what you are looking for at the best prices possible.

Technology and Appliances

Home and Lifestyle

Entrepreneurship, Business and Learning

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Cyber Monday

Deals on fashion retailers and supermarkets have been excluded.