Be a clever consumer in a month of Black Friday

Although this year will not see long queues and people crammed into the spaces between shelves, consumers are starting to plan what they will buy when some stores even extend their Black Friday specials to the whole month of November to ensure that shops have space for social distancing.

Data from DPO South Africa, the country’s largest payment service provider, shows trading volumes spiked by 400% on Black Friday in 2019 compared to an average trading day, with a 35% year-on-year transactional volume growth for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period.

Consumers are tired of counting their cents and want some retail therapy to forget how horrible 2020 turned out to be. Shops are feeding the frenzy, with advertisements everywhere to tell consumers what they can look forward to. However, it is not a good idea to get into a buying frenzy.

You can save money if you do your homework before the specials start, but it is important to remember that shops will not give you something for nothing. Shops support Black Friday because it is a marketing event to get you to buy not only the specials, but also the other items which are still sold at the normal price.

With many consumers planning to buy online, buying can be even more impulsive and therefore it is very important to ensure you are ready to spend your money wisely before you buy.

Plan your Black Friday shopping

One way to ensure you spend wisely and really benefit from the special offers is to plan your Black Friday shopping properly. Start by making a list of what you want to buy and write down what the items cost now before looking at the Black Friday advertisements to see how much less you will pay.

The next step is to draw up a budget and keep to it. If you do not budget, you will buy impulsively and end up with stuff you do not even need.

Do not buy on credit

Do not use credit to pay for your Black Friday shopping, otherwise the interest on the credit will cancel all the money you save. It is also easier to buy impulsively on credit than it is to pay cash. Credit has to be paid back with interest, which makes it a lot more expensive. You should only use credit that you can afford to avoid a bad credit record that can prevent you from getting credit when you really need it.

Black Friday tips

• Draw up a budget you can afford and stick to it.
• Make a list of what you want to buy and stick to it.
• Do not spend money you do not have.
• Do not buy on credit, because the saving is cancelled by the cost of credit.
• Beware of impulse buying.
• Compare prices before you buy.

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