Retailers use “sneaky pricing tactics” to push Black Friday sales and offer deals, which are cheaper or the same price throughout the year, consumer group Which? has found.
Nine in 10 of the deals offered by the UK’s biggest home and tech retailers were the same price or even less expensive before the Black Friday period, usually marked by discounts and extended sales. Consumer champion Which? reported the findings on Tuesday, following a review of deals on 227 products in the two weeks to December last year.
This is the first time Which? has reviewed the credibility of the “was” price used to show the size of Black Friday discounts. It found that every single one of the analysed Black Friday deals was available for the same or lower price at other times of the year.
Around four in 10 of the deals were cheaper at other times, the watchdog added.
Its analysis showed that a Remington Shea Soft Hair Dryer, sold at Boots, was claimed to be reduced from £49.99 to £18.99 on Black Friday. Which? found that the item has never actually been priced at £49.99 in the preceding 12 months.
Another example was the Garmin Venu 2S smartwatch priced by John Lewis at £294 for Black Friday, £90 cheaper than its regular price. However, the review found that at no point in the previous 12 months the item had cost £384 at John Lewis.
Which? said the highest price for the smartwatch had been £349.99, adding that in the six months after Black Friday it also didn’t go up to the claimed £384.
Richer Sounds, a home entertainment retailer, was found to advertise a Toshiba 24WK3C63DB TV as an “Inflation Busting Mega deal” for last year’s Black Friday, at £139. Analysis showed that, in fact, it had been priced £139 for 80 days straight before Black Friday and was £10 cheaper before that.
Editor of Which? Magazine Harry Rose warned that shoppers shouldn’t feel pressured “to splash out” on Black Friday deals, as they are usually repeated, if not beaten, throughout the year.
“We want retailers to drop the sneaky pricing tactics so consumers are not misled about the deals on offer.
Pricing Act
Last year, Black Friday sales in the UK reached an estimated £13.3 billion, up 7.3 percent year-on-year.Which? said the Black Friday period comes with “massive fanfare and marketing,” which leads many consumers to believe this is when the best discounts of the year are available.
It added that although retailers rarely make direct claims of the very best price on offer, they should “clean up their act on pricing.”
Retailers should only quote “savings against the most recent previous price and for time-limited offers, the offer must be in place for a shorter period of time than the higher price was available,” Which? said.
Transparency around pricing history could also help consumers decide whether a deal is worth taking, the watchdog said.
Argos, Amazon, AO.com, Boots, Curry’s, John Lewis, Richer Sounds, and Very were among the retailers whose Black Friday deals were reviewed by Which?.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “To help customers find the best deals we provide clear pricing on product pages that show how much of a discount they’re getting compared to the recommended retail price, with the specific products highlighted by Which? all validated against external competitors.”
Boots said that it offered discounts on over 21,000 products across the Black Friday period in 2023.
“Being part of that promotional programme does not exclude those lines from being on offer at other times throughout the year. Which? reviewed a very small number of our Black Friday deals from last year and in all cases, the items were at a lower price whilst on promotion or when price matched against competitors,” a Boots spokesperson said.
Black Friday is part of the final three months of the year period known as the golden quarter, which also includes Cyber Monday and Christmas.
According to the British Retail Consortium, sales growth in November 2023 remained weak at 2.7 percent amid cost-of-living pressures and despite a big push from retailers around Black Friday deals.
