Economics expert from UEA says Black Friday won't boost economy or help Christmas bargain hunters
A study from consumer group Which? actually found only 2% of discounted deals were at their cheapest price in the annual sale
An economics expert in Norfolk says Black Friday won't boost the economy - or help anyone looking for a bargain ahead of Christmas
It's as a study from consumer group Which? actually found only 2% of discounted deals were at their cheapest price in the annual sale
"Only a very small amount of products that will have really good deals"
Dr Sheheryar Banuri is from the University of East Anglia: "Awareness is a big thing.
"You should know that retailers are engaging in 'Penetration Pricing'- mean that they are dropping pricing for a limited amount of products, to get you in the door.
"Knowing that if they do that you're more likely to spend more than you originally planned to.
"There'll be only a very small amount of products that will have really good deals.
"Most of the deals will be the same as they are in the other points of the year. So there is also a lot of marketing that's leading this"
"There is a spending spike on days like this. But it's a bit deceptive as it's higher than it might ordinally be on a given weekend.
"So you think that it's good for the economy- but it's going to be more or less the same, maybe a little bit better, on average."
What do people in Norfolk think about Black Friday?
We asked people in Norfolk what they thought of Black Friday and got some really varied response.
A lot of people said they don’t get involved in Black Friday, whereas some said they “love a bargain!”
Jenny, 54, said: “I will be doing my Black Friday shopping online as I use it to buy things for myself that you don’t necessarily need.”
Her friend Serena, 53 agreed, saying: “I would potentially buy things for Christmas if it seemed like a good deal.”
Meanwhile, 37 year old Claire won't be taking part: “I used to work in retail. Black Friday was crazy and overwhelming. People just spent so much.
"I won’t be taking part - we are just trying to save as the cost of everything has gone up so much so I won’t be tempted into looking.”
The Which? study in more detail:
Which? is warning people to take the deals with a pinch of salt after their study reveals that out of 208 products that they bought only 5 of them were at their cheapest price.
Items from major brands such as Amazon, Argos, Boots, Currys, John Lewis, Richer Sounds and Very were monitored 6 months before being bought and 6 months after and they calculated the price of change throughout the year.
Which? Found that Second Generation Apple AirPods headphones at both Argos and Currys were discounted from £139 to £119. However, between 25 May and 9 September the price varied from £99 – £119 meaning they were cheaper than their actual price making this one of the worst examples.
How have retailers responded to this?
Some Big Brands have hit back at the findings of this study.
AO World called the research "biased" and "unbalanced", while Argos accused it of leaping to "outlandish conclusions" about its deals.