Bagging the best Black Friday deals requires forethought and a military-style strategy.
This year, Black Friday – a day of massive sales, which originated in the US – falls on November 23rd.
Takealot and its subsidiary Superbalist said that they will offer discounts of up to 60% and 70% respectively on the day, and have shared tips with Business Insider South Africa on how to secure the top offers.
“We want all our customers to have the best chance of getting their wish list items. There are definitely some very clever strategies that they can employ to bag the best deals,” said Julie-Anne Walsh, chief marketing officer at Takealot.com.
Takealot’s Blue Dot Sale will run for five days with steep discounts only on Black Friday, throughout the weekend as well as on Cyber Monday and Takealot Tuesday.
Here’s how to get the best deals:
Beat the rest by being online first. Be ready by 11:30pm on Thursday 22 November
Most sales will start as the clock strikes twelve – Takealot’s starts a minute after midnight – so make sure you have data and your wifi isn’t past its cap. Get to bed early and set a few alarms.
When you wake up, get your pages ready and start refreshing your browser just before midnight.
By the time the rest of the world wakes up you have done your shopping.
Get together and form a united front – teamwork is key
WhatsApp groups are the way to go. Get your friends and family together early. Everyone should build a wish list and share it. Whoever gets online first already has a list of what everyone wants so they buy for everyone.
Having shopping buddies means you can be dedicated to one site, while your comrades focus on other sites at the same time. This means you will have more chances of getting the deals than on one site.
If you feel like online groups will take too long you could camp out at one person’s house and strategise with laptops and dongles. Communication about latest developments will be a breeze.
The key to victory is planning – put the items you want in your check-out basket before Black Friday. You can then checkout ASAP on the day
Add the items you want to buy to your basket ahead of Black Friday. If some of the items are included in the Black Friday discounts, the prices will be marked down and you can immediately proceed to pay for them.
Klyne Maharaj, head of brand at Superbalist.com, said another battle strategy for the big day would be to list the items in order of preference, so you can check out the items you really, really want first, and then return to the rest. You won’t have to go through your long list.
You can also:
- Load gift vouchers ahead of time so you can check out quickly.
- If you are buying a TV, you’ll need an up-to-date TV licence account number on hand for the transaction to go through.
- If you plan to buy a big ticket item such as a TV, or fridge and need credit to do this, apply for credit ahead of time as there is a waiting period before approval.
Do your homework
From early November, retailers will start to release their Black Friday weekend specials. Start your plotting and planning as early as possible and draw up a plan of action.
Shop online first – then hit the trenches in the malls
Real-world shops will also offer great Black Monday deals. A good plan is is to start with cyberspace early and then head off to the physical shops once you’ve done the calm and peaceful online shopping.
This way you’ll be fresh to take on those three-person scrums over the last Christmas gammon in the supermarket and still be comforted knowing that you’ve got at least some deals in the bag.
Make sure details are up-to-date
Ensure your credit card details and your delivery address are correct before you buy. You won’t want to be messing around updating details, as everyone is beating you to the punch in checkout.
Apps will send you push notifications on deals and they’re faster than your browser
This will allow you to browse much faster. Plus some retailers offer app-only deals.
Check in advance if you can return your purchases
Most outlets, both online and physical, will accept returns for Black Friday purchases, but this is not a guarantee. It is worth checking terms and conditions in advance to make sure that any purchases made “in the moment” can be returned.
Set a budget – beforehand.
You could quickly find yourself shopping for Christmas 2018, 19 and 20 if you are not careful. Be responsible and remember that the expensive festive season and back-to-school January expenses are coming up.
Article sourced from Business Insider
