Black Friday specials cheaper months earlier

● Consumer group Which? says 60% of deals available on other days

A survey of deals on offer for last year’s Black Friday has found more than half were the same price or cheaper months either side of the event.

Leading consumer group Which? tracked the Black Friday prices of 35 of the most popular technology, home and personal care products sold by Currys PC World, Argos and Amazon.

They found 60 per cent of deals could have been found at other times during the year or for a cheaper price.

A Neff Slide and Hide Oven on offer at Currys for £494.99 for Black Friday was cheaper on at least 113 other days of the year. The oven was also £45 less expensive just three weeks after the sale date, the watchdog found.

A Samsung 55-inch Smart 4K Ultra HD curved TV advertised by Currys as ‘Save £400, now £849’ was £50 cheaper at

0 This Black Friday UK shoppers are expected to spend £2.6bn - an 8 per cent increase on last year least 29 times in December, January and April. The stateof-the-art TV was £79 cheaper at least 18 times in May.

An Oral B electric toothbrush from Amazon was advertised as ‘save 26 per cent: was £40.49, now £29.99’, but was £5 cheaper on at least two days in July.

At Argos, a 49-inch LG TV advertised for £499 with the tagline ‘Our lowest price’ was £4 cheaper a week later and another £16 cheaper at the end of December.

Which? has urged consumers to research regular prices ahead of Black Friday to know if they are getting a good deal as the misleading sales tags were revealed as shoppers across Scotland brace for a retail frenzy this Friday.

UK shoppers are expected to spend £2.6 billion – an 8 per cent increase on the £2.4bn spent last year – or £1.8 million per minute snapping up deals online and in stores on the day.

Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: “Our research shows that although Black Friday can offer some great discounts, not all offers are as good as they seem.

“It’s easy to get swept along by the hype and excitement on the day, so we recommend doing some preparation and research to help make sure you really are getting a good deal when shopping in the sales.”

Currys said: “Last year, Currys PC World alone featured around 4,000 products reduced as part of our Black Friday campaign, with many items being their lowest ever price at that point in time.

“The fact that some of these were then reduced further in the months after that period is simply us continuing to offer our customers great value throughout the year.”

An Argos spokesman said Black Friday did not exclude products from other sales or promotional activity.