Some retailers create the illusion of a big discount by raising prices in the weeks before Black Friday, only to drop them again during the “sale”.
Websites such as PriceRunner or CamelCamelCamel let you look at previous prices so you can work out whether a discount is genuine.
For example, according to Price Runner, the cheapest Apple ipad overall was selling online for £309 on the 19 October. By 10 November it had increased to £391.99. When the Black Friday sales launched on 21 November, it was back down to £309.
This tactic isn’t illegal, but it can easily mislead shoppers into thinking they’re getting a far bigger discount than they really are, consumer champion, Rebecca Wilcox told Morning Live.
AI can help too, says retail analyst Natalie Berg, host of the Retail Disrupted podcast. “You can ask ChatGPT: ‘Show me the best Black Friday deals for a 10-year-old who loves the movie Wicked.’ You don’t need to trawl through different sites, which can be time-consuming and overwhelming.”
