Christmas shoppers urged to do simple job by November to avoid paying a fortune | Personal Finance | Finance
A financial expert has given a key piece of advice to consumers hoping to resist the urge to spend big over the festive period. Christmas is already creeping around the corner, with many high street retailers having launched discount offers in a bid to tempt consumers into spending.
With Black Friday on the horizon on Friday, November 29, we are soon to be firmly in the season of retailers offering large, brash and tempting discounts and promotions. Black Friday has become a staple fixture in the British consumer calendar, replacing the famous boxing day sales as the annual discount bonanza. According to Mintel, more than half of shoppers now rely on discounts because of financial concerns, with billions of pounds spent each year in an attempt to save money.
Harry Rose, Editor of Which? magazine, says the strategies of the retailers may pressure you into buying things you either don’t need or haven’t budgeted for.
Sites such as PriceRunner or CamelCamelCamel (which is Amazon only) show current prices and the pricing history of popular products.
According to Mr Rose, shoppers should only take advantage of sales and discount periods on buy big-ticket items that they have already identified as necessary, rather than spending frivolously on impulse purchases.
He added: “Big tech companies will do their best to tempt you into buying their latest release, whether it’s a smartphone, TV or tablet, but a forgotten device which has been out for 12 months could still be more than adequate and it’s also far more likely to be on sale at a bargain price.”
Black Friday and the festive period also come with an increased risk of fraud, with numerous scams promising fake goods that never turn up.
Helen Dewdney, founder of consumer website The Complaining Cow, believes that it is vital that shoppers do their research, rather than just assuming that a deal is fantastic because it says so.
She said: “Search the retailer’s return address and verify its company number on Companies House.
“Check for a choice of contact methods and that they have a genuine postal address and real landline telephone number.”
