How to get the most out of Black Friday

Matt Maynard • 15 Nov 2021 Guides

Our top 5 tips for online shopping on Black Friday.

Black Friday is the one day a year that sees people falling over each other to get the best deals available. While the prospect of braving the inevitably heaving shops is impossible to bear for some, the same deals will thankfully be available online, where you can sit safely behind your screens and shop in peace.

To prepare yourself for the online rush and long google tab load times, we’ve composed a guide that should make your life a whole lot easier when you boot your computer up come Black Friday morning.

1. Make a list of alternative shops

If you know what items you want to bag on Black Friday, make a note of all the shops that are selling them. If you’re unable to get on one site due to the sheer influx of other shoppers, you’ll have other options. Setting your sights on just relying on one shop for each item you want could drastically reduce your chances of you getting what you want!

2. Create your accounts in advance

Now you’ve found the different shops that are selling the things you want, we strongly advise creating accounts for all of them to make checking out with your items a whole lot easier.

You can, of course, ‘check out as a guest’ with most websites, but by creating an account you’ll be able to keep track of your orders via your login. With thousands of people probably ordering off the same websites as you, you’re going to want ease-of-access to proof of purchase in case things go awry with your order.

Make the logins the same as all the sites you'll be buying from to make it signing in as swift as possible, but different from your other, more important logins, that you use more often for security purposes!

3. Make your ‘wishlists’ if possible

A lot of websites allow you to make a list of your favourite/saved items, often called a wishlist. You’re going to want to pool all the items you want in one place to avoid unnecessary scrolling and the continuous clicking through pages, which could cost you valuable time when taking into account the inevitably long load times.

4. Focus on the item price, not the saving

Sites will tell you the savings you’ll make by buying a particular item through their site, but we’d advise you to take that figure with a pinch of salt - they want you to buy from them, after all.

Make a note of the cost of the products you want before the Black Friday savings kick in so you know the true savings you’re going to make. When the new price of your item is revealed, compare it to the retail price and make your decision from there.

5. Start early

As with any sale shopping, you’re going to want to get online early. The shops you’re shopping from might all start their sales at different times, they might even have offers leading up to the big day. Make a note of the date and time your favourite items are set to go on offer, set your reminders and get ready to shop.