Shoppers beware: Some Black Friday 'sale' items are more expensive

Tuesday, 26 November 2019

Big discounts on Black Friday may not be what the seem, warns price comparison website PriceSpy.

PriceSpy found the price of some products actually increased over the Black Friday sale weekend last year.

Perfume actually increased an average 3 per cent during the sale.

Black Friday traditionally starts the day after the Thanksgiving in the United States and runs till Monday.

While PriceSpy's research showed televisions, laptops and headphones all had lower prices on average in the sale, some of the items within those categories increased in price.

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PriceSpy country manager Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett says consumers need to be savvy when it comes to Black Friday specials.

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Of the laptops surveyed, nearly half reduced in price while 16 per cent went up.

Only 39 per cent of headphones dropped in price, while 9 per cent went up and 68 per cent of televisions were cheaper 3 per cent were more expensive.

PriceSpy country manager Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett said shoppers should do their research.

'Our historical pricing insights suggest Black Friday can help offer consumers fantastic savings ahead of Christmas, but we want to encourage shoppers to be savvy about their shopping to avoid getting ripped off,' Matinvesi-Bassett said.

Shoppers also needed to reign in their expectations, she said.

'The survey revealed many Kiwis may be expecting more significant discounts than what are actually offered.'

Retailers have been embracing Black Friday, because of competition from overseas, Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford says.

Out of those intending to buy something on Black Friday this year, six out of 10 people said they expected to save up to 50 per cent, and two out of 10 said they expected to save more than that.

But PriceSpy's pricing data suggested the average discount offered on Black Friday 2018 was just 12 per cent.

Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said Black Friday had crept into the Kiwi shopping calendar and had become firmly entrenched over the past five years.

'New Zealand retailers have been embracing Black Friday, essentially because of competition from offshore retailers,' Hartford said.

'The internet has made overseas shopping extraordinarily accessible to New Zealand consumers, customers were seeing Black Friday deals abroad, and Kiwi businesses have responded to that competition.'

Harford said New Zealander's spending habits had begun to shift.

'The sales periods are clearly driving customer demand and turnover ahead of Christmas, and to some extent we are seeing a bit of a shift in spending from December into the Black Friday period.'

In 2018, Kiwis spent $442 million over the Black Friday weekend, up more than 85 per cent from the $238.2m spent the previous year, according to figures from electronic payments company Paymark.

The Warehouse Group chief digital officer Michelle Anderson said the company had little option but to participate in the global phenomenon.

'As a large Kiwi retailer, in order to compete we need to participate and we want to be able to offer our customers the same great deals, and meet demand locally,' she said.