How to Shop Smart for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

With November kic­king into gear, you’re bound to see four words plastered onto shop fronts and filling your social media feed: “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”.

The massive sales phenomenon where goods are typically sold at their lowest prices of the year, originated in the United States at the beginning of the holiday shopping season, coinciding with the Friday before Thanksgiving. (Fun fact; The term Black Friday doesn’t refer to the day that retailers go from in the ‘red’ to in the ‘black’ as many believe. It refers to the chaos police officers saw as shoppers went crazy for deals in the 60’s!)

In recent years, Black Friday has been adopted internationally. In Australia, it is now arguably the best time not only to get holiday shopping sorted but also to stock up on anything you’ve had your eye on throughout the year. It recently ranked just as popular as Boxing Day for Australian consumers. With the growing interest, getting to elusive deals in time is anything but a sure thing. By using these tips and staying on your toes, you’ll be in with a chance of scoring.

Be prepared

Yes, Black Friday is only one day a year, but most retailers will tease the deals they plan to release in the days leading up. By doing your research beforehand you can be among the first to snatch the product you want. Also, be sure to search for different retailers to find the lowest price. This also means if one place runs out, you know an alternative retailer to go to.

Retailers will also push you to join their mailing list, meaning you will receive the deals to your email the moment they go live. Make sure you have accounts set up with retailers and your card details are up to date for speedy checkouts.

Budget to avoid blowout

With all the excitement surrounding deals, it can be easy to get carried away. You may be getting that new iPhone at a dirt-cheap price but if you’ve also bought a TV, watch, skincare, athleisure, vacuums, chocolates, and anything else that caught your eye you might experience some buyer’s remorse down the line.

It’s smart to organise a list of things you’re sure you want, so you’re not caught up in the thrill and buy things on an impulse that will bring more regret than joy later. Listing your purchases also means you can go in with a plan, beating people to the punch on limited time and low quantity deals.

Take advantage of Cyber Monday

Black Friday might be the flagship day of the sales season, but in recent years it’s been joined by other sales in the week.

Cyber Monday takes place on the Monday after Black Friday­­, and was created by retailers to promote shopping online. While initially this was in opposition to Black Friday, with a fair amount of shopping and deals now done online anyway, it’s now a younger sibling to the mammoth sales seen on Black Friday, and a second chance to grab anything that escaped you.

Some retailers use the weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday to offer 4 consecutive days of deals called a “Cyber Weekend”, giving you plenty of time to take advantage of great sales. A good rule of thumb is to purchase big ticket items on Black Friday, while Cyber Monday is an opportunity to grab small tech purchases and gifts.

Stay cyber-safe

In the frenzy of buying and deal hunting, your security online might jump to the back of your mind (who has time for two-step verification when air pods are 50% off?!). However, staying aware of your safety is even more important when you’re giving your credit card a workout. Scammers will use phishing swindles on Black Friday to trick you into handing over your account details. So, make sure those emails from Amazon are really from Amazon and never hand over financial information without certifying that it’s on a genuine purchasing page.

If you receive an email saying your payment details are incorrect and need updating, the best thing to do is to go to the actual site that you’re trying to buy from to update and verify your information there. Avoid clicking on any links sent via email – Click here for more ways to stay safe online.

We hope this makes the spending season easier. Best of luck and enjoy catching those excellent deals, getting holiday shopping done early and picking up some gifts. Happy shopping (within your limits), stay safe and have fun!

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