Black Friday deals: how to avoid wasting money

Do your research and you might get a bargain, but it pays be wise to the marketing ploys

• Police tell shoppers to watch out for Black Friday scams

Do not assume everything that purports to be an offer is as special as the retailer wants you to believe. Every year the consumer group Which? looks at the truth behind the advertised bargains, and it generally finds that only a small number of products were at their cheapest on Black Friday. In 2019, for example, only 1% of the items it price-checked were genuinely on offer; everything else was available at a lower price in the six months before or after.