Black Friday has become an annual global online event that is growing year on year.
Almost everyone has probably heard of Black Friday – but where does it come from and what exactly does it offer?
We’ve done a little digging into the history and – more importantly – unearthed some great Black Friday deals that are already being promoted.
Read on to discover for yourself:
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- What is Black Friday?
- When is Black Friday 2021?
- Black Friday advice
- Black Friday deals in the UK
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday in the UK is an annual retail event that has grown in popularity over the past few years.
Contrary to popular belief, most Black Friday deals are genuine, and it has developed into the sale of the year where you will find the best deals available from some of the biggest brand names.
Black Friday deals are an opportunity to buy make amazing savings; indeed, if you are planning a major purchase in the autumn, it is usually better to wait until Black Friday to buy what you want and save a lot of money!
Retailers and manufacturers gear up for Black Friday each year now, and prepare stock in advance, knowing that demand will be high.
Last year, CNBC reported, saw a global increase of almost 22% in Black Friday sales, compared to 2019, with over $9 billion spent on websites on that day.
With the extension in recent years of what has been termed ‘Cyber Monday’, the Black Friday event has sprawled into a weekend-long global sales event.
But where did Black Friday originate?
It all comes down to Thanksgiving in the USA – a traditional national holiday where families gather together to spend time – and which always falls on a Thursday.
As a result of this, many workers would call in sick to turn Thanksgiving into a long 4-day weekend (and to recover from hangovers, no doubt). As far back as the 1950s, this began to be known as ‘Black Friday’.
This extended break came to denote the start of the family Christmas shopping season, creating excess traffic as people flocked to the stores, causing road blockages and driving havoc.
US Police began to refer to these days as ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Black Saturday’ as they were some of the worst days of traffic they had to deal with.
The name stuck – later, attempts were made to spin it into a more positive term, by using it to allude to the day when retailers’ accounts got ‘back into the black’. From then, it developed into what we have today – which is often the single day of the year when retailers make the most sales.
When is Black Friday 2021?
So – when do the UK Black Friday sales start?
It was Abraham Lincoln who decided to mark the holiday setting it as the last Thursday of each November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”
Thanksgiving this year falls on 25th November, so that means Black Friday in the UK, indeed worldwide, is on 26th November 2021.
Cyber Monday, therefore, falls on 29th November.
Historically, Black Friday is a sales event held in stores; Cyber Monday developed as its online equivalent – to help smaller, independent and online stores take part in the sales-fest.
Recently, particularly in 2020, due to the strange lockdown circumstances experienced by many countries, the two have blended and now the Black Friday / Cyber Monday event overlap – indeed many offers are advertised days and even weeks before the actual weekend.
Black Friday advice
Here are a few great tips to follow to make the most of your Black Friday bargains.
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- Shop around! Don’t just grab the first deal you see – but also don’t hang around too long, as deals are often limited supply and won’t last forever.
- If you are wanting to make a big-ticket item purchase, start looking a few weeks or even months beforehand, to get a feel for its normal price. That way, when Black Friday deals are announced, you’ll know how much of a genuine bargain it is.
- Yes – most Black Friday deals are genuine – but you will find some retailers inflating RRPs a few weeks beforehand, to make their deals look even better, so it pays to research early. For tracking Amazon prices over time, check out the website https://camelcamelcamel.com.
- Don’t always look for the latest version – especially with tech purchases. Many retailers use Black Friday to clear stock of slightly older models (computers, phones etc) to make way for the latest, and much better bargains can often be found by purchasing last year’s model.
- Only buy a Black Friday deal if you were looking to buy that product or service anyway – otherwise, it’s not such a deal.
Black Friday deals in the UK
Black Friday is still a couple of weeks away (at the time of writing) and many companies have yet to announce their deals – although you can subscribe to newsletters to get first notice as and when they do announce them. Visit the website of any manufacturer or retailer you wish to purchase from and see if they have an email subscription service for this.
Having said that – a lot of companies have already published their deals, and so we have listed a few of our favourites below.
Follow the links to see if there is a deal to be had that you could really use! And if you know of a really good bargain you want to share – be sure to let us know about it so we can add it to our list!
Splento.com
Allow us to unashamedly start with the best Black Friday deal we know of – ours!
This year, for Black Friday, you can get an amazing 35% OFF any photo or video session of 2 hours or more. Simply use the code BLACKFRIDAY35 when booking – but be sure to place the booking by the Black Friday weekend! (The actual photoshoot can be anytime later).
Simply follow this link to book or contact us for further details.
Splento has amazing photographers and videographers local to you – and we deliver the finished photos within 24 hours of the photoshoot!
And with fixed hourly rates, plus our incredible Black Friday offer, we know you won’t find a better photo or video shoot deal of this quality anywhere else.
Fitness
You’ll want to look your best for your photo shoot – and to get fit there are some amazing deals around this year. We like the look of Echelon, who are offering great deals on some of their exercise equipment (bikes, rowing machines, etc) – with over 20% off for Black Friday!
You can find the Echelon range of fitness gear here.
Health
Health is as important as fitness – and our pick of the bunch for Black Friday health deals covers oral health.
A quick visit to the Oral-B website and you could soon be smiling like never before – with over 60% off their Black Onyx Electric Toothbrush.
Available to buy now, you don’t even need to wait until Black Friday.
Relaxing pastimes
If a relaxing hobby is more your kind of thing – then there are thousands to choose from! Go online and look up whatever best fits you.
But for sheer relaxation – and something a little different – we have plumped for this amazing Lego Bonsai Tree – which you can change as the seasons come and go. Bonsai is an excellent relaxation therapy, and we love the idea of this Lego version.
Another thing that will put that smile on your face is the 18% savings you can make buying it this Black Friday – from Amazon.
Merlin Pass
While we are on the subject of Lego – if you are a regular theme park visitor, then head over to Merlin Pass – where right now you can save yourself up to £60 per person for an annual pass. Your Merlin Pass gives you all-year access to some amazing theme parks – including Legoland, Alton Towers, The London Eye, Thorpe Park, Sea Life, Shrek’s Adventure and much, much more!
Take a quick look now at their website to see how much you could save in 2022.
Food and Drink
There are some great deals to be had this Black Friday on electrical goods, and where better to start than with not one, but two brilliant coffee machines?
First, we found this Bosch Tassimo coffee machine, down from £79.99 to just £29.00 for this Black Friday – a great machine for those starting out on the coffee home-brewing journey. With automatic pod recognition, it will perfectly brew whichever drink takes your fancy in the moment.
But then our eye was caught by this Magimix Nespresso machine which also automatically adjusts brewing times to the coffee pod you are using, but also froths your milk to perfection.
And if you are looking for something a little stronger and are a craft beer drinker – then you probably already know that the place to order craft beer is from The House of Trembling Madness.
Right now, they have some amazing deals across many brews, but are currently holding an Amundsen Brewery Sale. If you like something a bit different, perhaps sweet, but delicious, then you can save over 50% on a range of Amundsen beers right now – the Cherry & Chocolate Ganache Imperial Stout sounds tempting!
Finally – if you are stocking up on food and drink this winter – whether for Christmas or any other event – then it may be time to replace your fridge.
We found this Samsung American style double fridge/freezer at amazing value – £999 down from £1,499, with enough capacity for all the food and drink you are going to need.
Perfumes and aftershaves
Boots has always been a store with offers on your favourite scents – and this Black Friday is no exception – take a moment to view their wide range of Black Friday deals on perfumes and aftershaves, and stock up some stocking fillers for this festive season.
High Tech – Low Prices
Finally – Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) has always been associated with saving on tech – hardware and software – so our list couldn’t be complete without some Black Friday Tech deals.
For phone bargains, we found that 3 are offering the new iPhone 13 Pro for just £35.50 a month – that’s instead of their usual £71 per month – plus £69 upfront cost.
For Android fans – they can pick up the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G from O2, with 60GB of data per month, for £54.65 monthly and just £30.00 upfront; that’s a saving of around £300.
And if you already have a handset and are looking for a great Black Friday SIM-only deal, well, you have not been forgotten either. Giff-gaff is offering a stunning 30GB of data per month, for just £15 – with no long-term contract!
Away from mobile communications, there are always plenty of great Black Friday bargains to be had on PCs and laptops.
There are too many to list here, but Dell have a reputation for delivering a good deal, and this year is no exception – take a look at the Dell website to see just a few of the many savings there are to be had this Black Friday (and check back, as more may be added later).
To go with your new computer – how about some great software?
With almost everyone having internet access today, SaaS (Software as a Service) is a brilliant way to purchase and use the latest software at a fraction of the cost.
Have a scroll through AppSumo and JoinSecret to pick up a bargain – they are sure to have just the app you need (and a few that you never knew you needed!).
And for some massive savings on massive names in software – be sure to visit BlackFriday.com for huge discounts on labels such as McAfee, Microsoft Office, NordVPN, Rosetta Stone and many more.
Lastly – if computer games are more your thing – then be sure to check out Steam – they regularly hold sales on top titles and Black Friday will be no exception. Grab a title, kick back and enjoy the ride!
Whatever purchase you may end up with this Black Friday – we hope that you find what you are looking for! And if you find a truly great bargain – be sure to take an amazing photo and share it with us!
Contact us here – or visit splento.com for more details.
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