How to Score the Best Shopping Deals on Black Friday

Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US and numerous shopping deals are offered on this day. How do you find the best deals for you and your family and actually beat other shoppers to them?

In the US, Black Friday is the name given to the Friday which follows Thanksgiving Day (which is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month of November of every year). Although the origin of the term Black Friday is not very clear, the day is clearly an important one for both shoppers and retailers alike despite the negative connotations of the word “Black”. It marks the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season for that year.

On Black Fridays, a lot of retailers (especially the large ones) offer unbelievable shopping deals to draw shoppers into their stores. These deals include selling some items at a loss but which is aimed at getting people into the stores where they are likely to buy other items. Such deals are called lossleader deals or doorbuster deals. As the term “doorbuster” implies, these deals attract a huge number of shoppers and shopping on a Black Friday can leave you black (and blue) all over. So how do you get the best deals on a Black Friday? Some of these simple techniques will help you be a happy Black Friday shopper.

Sign up to a lot of Retailer Customer Programs

When Black Friday (or any other important shopping period at which deals are offered) approaches, retailers send out adverts to customers usually via email or regular mail. How else can you receive such trusty, straight-from-the-source and beforehand information if you are not on the retailer’s mailing list? Other than the fact that customer programs include loyalty programs which reward you for your buying behavior, some deals may be targeted at people who have reached certain levels on the customer (loyalty) program. The advantages of signing up for more than one customer program (whether you actually shop at the different retailers’ stores or not) include the following:

- You get to compare shopping deals from numerous retailers in advance.

- If you like a number of deals from different retailers, you can work out how to get the different items you want on Black Friday.

Use the internet and do your Black Friday shopping online if possible

There isn’t a better source of information in the world than the internet in this era. About a month before Black Friday, a lot of ads on shopping deals can be found on the internet just by searching for “Black Friday deals”. The advantages of using the internet include the benefits of signing up to different retailer customer programs listed above. Other benefits include:

- The ability to shop online if the retailer offers that option.

- The ability to find deals from smaller retailers who cannot afford to have customer loyalty programs.

The drawbacks of using the internet are that the information you find may not be accurate; and that retailers might not include their prices to prevent comparison shopping and to prevent the competition from slashing prices to undercut them.

Look out for shopping deal adverts daily

Keep your eyes and ears open for shopping deal adverts on the television, radio and as you walk or drive around just before Black Friday. Seeing these adverts yourself and noting the location of the stores will let you plan your strategy properly for Black Friday.

Word of mouth

All the shopping deals adverts you receive in the mail and see on the internet might not compare to that tip you receive from a friend, who got it from a friend and which friend got it from an employee who works at a certain retailer. This sort of tip can let you know exactly where the item you want to buy will be displayed in the store, so you know which store entrance to come in through and how to get to what you want. So do ask your family members or friends or store clerks for information on any shopping deals they might have heard about.

Also, do not forget the following:

- Shop early.

- The shopping deals are usually limited to a certain quantity, so avoid distractions and buy the things you want most first. Make sure to create a list in order of importance.

- Enlist family members and friends to help with the shopping especially if you want to take advantage of numerous deals.

- Shop online if you can.