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Top 15 shopping tips for Black Friday
Hannah is an investigative journalist covering retail issues from fake reviews and unsafe products to supermarket pricing practices. She's been at Which? for 12 years.
In this article
- 1. Research the products you want beforehand
- 2. Be wary of unusual brands
- 3. If you're shopping for tech, know the life cycles
- 4. Research the price history of your favourite products
- 5. Find out whether retailers will match prices
- 6. Sign up for alerts
- 7. Create a wish list
- 8. Be prepared to start your Black Friday shopping early
Follow our expert tips to ensure you pay the lowest prices for the right products this Black Friday.
Visit our Black Friday insider's guide for news and advice before and during the sales.
1. Research the products you want beforehand
It's pointless grabbing a bargain if the product's not any good. Sale season often sees shoppers battling over items we wouldn't recommend at all.
It pays to do your research. We've lab test results for thousands of products, so use our reviews to find out which are best for you and your budget.
- Download the Which? reviews app to find out whether the product you're looking at is a dud or a delight.
2. Be wary of unusual brands
Samsung and Sony are known for their TVs, but what about Blaupunkt and Polaroid? Dirt-cheap deals are everywhere on Black Friday, but just because a TV has 4K and HDR plastered on the box doesn't mean that it's going to have as good a picture as one of our best TVs.
We're not saying every brand you've never heard of is bad, but there is a reason why some are household names and some only ever crop up in a sale. We recommend giving a wide berth to electricals, toys and cosmetics from brands that you don't recognise, and for everything else, check if they have a website, contact details and faulty goods information.
- Find out more: how to avoid buying dangerous products online.
3. If you're shopping for tech, know the life cycles
Most technology, including smartphones, TVs and tablets, is released on a one-year cycle, so you only need to wait 12 months before there's a shiny new device to get excited about.
Big tech companies will do their best to tempt you into buying their latest release, but the forgotten device celebrating its first birthday could still be more than adequate, and it's also far more likely to be on sale.
4. Research the price history of your favourite products
When we investigated Black Friday deals, we found that 83% of products in 2024's Black Friday sales fortnight had already been available for the same price or less at other times of the year.
There are helpful web tools that let you check how much a product has actually been sold for previously, so you can work out whether the 'sale' price really represents good value.
CamelCamelCamel, for example, provides price history for products sold on Amazon, whereas PriceRunner has wider market coverage.
- Find out more: how to avoid fake Black Friday deals.
5. Find out whether retailers will match prices
Retailers including AO, Currys, Euronics, Halfords, Hughes and John Lewis have price match promises – and Richer Sounds offers to beat the cheapest price you find by between £5 and £100 (depending on the value of the product).
Even shops that don't have price-matching policies may agree to refund the difference if you challenge them about a price drop soon after you’ve bought something.
- Find out more: best tech and appliance retailers.
6. Sign up for alerts
More often than not, retailers begin deals earlier in November now, too, so you'll want to be in the know as soon as discounts go live.
Sign up for their newsletters and follow them on social media, as this may give you early access to deals.
- Find out more: best furniture, home and DIY retailers.
7. Create a wish list
Some websites let you set up a wish list for all the things you want to buy.
Having a pre-created list makes it easier to see when prices drop, which can be especially useful on Black Friday when websites can be flooded with deals on things you don't want. Rather than trawling through every product on sale, you can just click on your list to see whether anything you have your eye on is on offer.
- Find out more: how to get the best price when shopping online.
8. Be prepared to start your Black Friday shopping early
In recent years, many retailers have launched deals a week or two before Black Friday, or even at the start of November.
If you're waiting for Black Friday itself to search for bargains, remember that the best deals are likely to be snapped up quickly – especially big-ticket items – and some products may already have sold out.
So it's worth keeping an eye out for deals throughout the month, and see our Black Friday insider's guide to stay on top of offers as they're announced.
However, there's no need to rush to buy. Our latest Black Friday investigation found that 83% of the products we spotted in the 2024 Black Friday sales period (15 Nov-12 Dec 2024) were cheaper or the same price at other times compared to the rest of the year (between May 2024 and May 2025).
- Find out more: best Currys Black Friday deals.
9. Earn as you spend
If you're splashing out on a big purchase (or several), check whether you could be getting something back in the process.
Cashback sites Quidco and Topcashback both offer deals at more than 4,000 retailers – and it's free to sign up. But don’t let the lure of cashback lead you towards a poor-value product. Think of it as a bonus, rather than using it as your starting point for deciding what to buy and where from.
An easy way to boost your cashback is to pay with a credit card that rewards you for your spending, whether that's in air miles, retail vouchers or money off your credit card statement. Remember to pay the balance off in full each month to avoid interest charges.
- Find out more: best cashback credit cards.
10. Shopping in-store on Black Friday? Use your phone, too
If you're hitting the high street this Black Friday, that doesn't mean you need to neglect the online stores. As long as you have a data connection on your phone, you can be in Currys and on Amazon at the same time.
Having access to websites means you can compare prices to make sure you're getting the right deal in-store.
Don't forget that you can use the Which? reviews app on Android and iOS devices to quickly look up product reviews, too. If you're not a member, you can join Which? for full access to the app.
11. Look at the price, not the 'saving'
Don't assume a deal is worth it just because it claims to offer a big saving. We've found 'was' prices that weren't the most recent previous price, meaning offers such as ‘was £100, now £50’ may not offer the saving you initially think.
- Find out more: how to check if a Black Friday deal is real.
12. Check the returns policy
If you've bought in-store, you can only return non-faulty goods for an exchange or refund if the retailer has a returns policy. Almost all shops do, but they're not required to by law.
Buying online gives you more rights: you have 14 days from the date of delivery to cancel an order and a further 14 days to return it for a full refund.
Many shops offer extended returns periods in the run-up to Christmas, which is handy if you're buying a gift. Check whether the policies entitle you to your money back or just a store credit/exchange.
- Find out more: your online shopping rights explained.
13. Consider buying online and picking up later
Some retailers, such as Argos, will hold your product for seven days. This means you can order it online, then go and collect it at a quieter time. Shopping this way can also help you save on delivery fees.
- Find out more: best tech stores.
14. Don't forget about Cyber Monday and beyond
Historically, Black Friday was for hitting the high street and Cyber Monday was for online deals. Now, more money is spent on the internet than in-store on Black Friday, but that doesn't mean you should ignore Cyber Monday – or the wider sales period more generally.
Some retailers, particularly those focused on computing, will have deals on laptops, desktop PCs, printers and more. If you didn't get the product you wanted on Black Friday, then keep checking over the weekend and the following week for more deals.
- Find out more: computing guides and reviews from Which?
15. Bookmark Which?
Our experts spend hours every day combing through hundreds of Black Friday offers, using their decades' worth of experience and detailed pricing history analysis to separate the deals from the duds.
We will only ever recommend genuinely impressive deals on products that are actually worth buying.
You can see this year's pick by heading over to our Black Friday insider's guide.