Black Friday is now a sale that can run for weeks in the UK, although the day itself is Friday 27 November. Our Black Friday guide counts this year’s sale from 2 November to 29 November. The question is whether a price is genuinely lower, not simply labelled as a discount.
The answer varies by product and comparison period. In Which?’s check of 175 Black Friday 2024 deals, 83% were the same price or cheaper at least once outside the four-week sales period. PriceSpy’s 2023 comparison found 39% of products cost less on Black Friday than at the start of November. These are different tests.
We have recorded prices for 354,245 products at the 86 shops we track since 9 October. For each sale price, we test it against every price we’ve recorded for that product. The live count follows, then the background and our own findings.
What is Black Friday in the UK?
Black Friday is the Friday after US Thanksgiving and a sale day in the UK; Cyber Monday is the online shopping day after that weekend. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November under the US calendar rule. In 2026, Thanksgiving falls on 26 November, Black Friday on Friday 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November.
Black Friday moves each year because Thanksgiving follows a weekday rule rather than a fixed date, so it can fall between 23 and 29 November. UK shops now run Black Friday promotions for weeks around those dates; Amazon’s 2025 UK Black Friday Week ran for 12 days, from 20 November to 1 December.
Are Black Friday deals real?
Some are, but a sale label alone does not tell you whether the price is unusually low. Which? has tracked named products before and after Black Friday, and its results depend on whether the comparison is with the day, the sales period or the surrounding year.
- In Which?’s 2017 check of 94 deals, 46% sold for less in the following six months.
- In Which?’s 2019 check of 219 deals, three were at their lowest price of the year on Black Friday. Some 85% were the same price or cheaper in the preceding six months.
- In Which?’s 2020 check of 201 products, one was at its lowest on Black Friday alone; 99.5% were cheaper or the same price at other times.
- In Which?’s 2021 check of 213 deals, 98% were cheaper or the same price at another time, and none was cheaper on Black Friday alone.
- In Which?’s 2022 check of 208 products, five were at their lowest on Black Friday itself; 98% were cheaper or the same price at other times.
- In Which?’s 2023 check of 227 deals, 92% were the same price or cheaper at other times of the year than in the Black Friday fortnight.
- In Which?’s 2024 check of 175 deals, 83% were cheaper or the same price at least once outside the four-week sales period. None was at its lowest of the year on Black Friday itself.
The studies also found some genuinely low prices. Which?’s 2015 check of 178 deals found 51% were lowest on Black Friday, but it compared only three months before and two months after, a shorter window than later studies. In Which?’s 2019 check, Bose Soundsport headphones on Amazon were £45 on Black Friday, half their £90 high and their lowest price that year. A Shark handheld vacuum on Amazon also reached its lowest price that year.
What did other price trackers find?
Other trackers also find real reductions alongside prices that were lower before the sale. PriceSpy reported that 39% of products on its site were cheaper on Black Friday 2023 than at the start of November. In the same comparison, it classified 11% of deals as fake sales because the price had risen between 1 October and the Sunday before Black Friday, then fallen.
PriceRunner’s 2021 check of 22,133 discounted products at 50 large UK retailers counted 21.6% as fake deals after a pre-sale rise and a Black Friday cut. Its threshold for that pattern differed from PriceSpy’s, so the rates cannot be added or averaged. They also cover different products and retailers.
The comparison date matters. A price below its level at the start of November could still have been lower earlier in the year. Our live record uses the prices we have seen for each tracked product.
Where did Black Friday get its name?
The shopping name comes from Philadelphia, where police used “Black Friday” for the traffic after Thanksgiving. A 1961 account of the local usage describes shoppers heading downtown and the resulting jams. The term was already customary there by 1961; that account does not establish the first year it was used.
The earliest known post-Thanksgiving use cited by Snopes is from 1951, when factory workers called in sick for a longer weekend. The story that shops moved from red ink into profit is first known from 1981. Snopes also rates the story about post-Thanksgiving slave sales as false.
“Cyber Monday” came later. Shop.org, the online arm of the US National Retail Federation, coined it in a 2005 announcement. The release linked Monday shopping to office internet access, based on what retailers reported.
How did Black Friday reach the UK?
Amazon brought Black Friday to the UK as an online promotion in 2010, according to the BBC’s account of its arrival. Asda, then owned by Walmart, took it into stores on a large scale in 2013. The Guardian’s report described scuffles, an arrest in Bristol and a woman taken to hospital in Merseyside. The following year, the BBC reported police calls to supermarkets, including seven Tesco stores attended by Greater Manchester Police.
Asda left the event in 2015, saying its shoppers did not want a day or two of sales, and spread savings across Christmas. Police also urged shops to spread promotions beyond one day. IMRG’s tracking of 295 retailers in 2023 counted 48 with campaigns running three weeks before Black Friday week and at least 114 a week before it. In the 2025 Black Friday month, the BRC recorded 44% of non-food sales online.
Why do shops have Black Friday sales?
Shops use Black Friday to compete for Christmas spending, bring purchases forward and clear some stock. BBC retail reporting describes these aims. Analysts also told the BBC that the event can pull Christmas spending forward at lower margins. Those reasons say nothing about an individual discount.
Adobe’s figures reported by Reuters put UK online spending from Black Friday to Cyber Monday 2025 at £3.8bn across four days, up 4.6% on 2024. This is online spend, not a total for all shops.
The sale falls in retail’s “golden quarter”, the run to Christmas, as BRC and KPMG describe it. Analysts quoted in IMRG’s 2024 coverage said a Black Friday near payday can help sales. That is an industry view, not a rule about when everyone is paid.
Why can a deal look better than it is?
A deal can look stronger because of its reference price, the higher price used for comparison, or its deadline. A “was” price is a shop’s stated earlier price; a recommended retail price, or RRP, is a manufacturer’s suggested price, not necessarily that shop’s previous price. Trading standards pricing guidance says shops should make the distinction clear.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s evidence review says a higher reference price can make an offer seem more valuable and reduce the search for alternatives, even when exaggerated. The CMA is the UK competition and consumer regulator. Its review also identifies resetting countdown clocks and exaggerated stock claims as pressure tactics.
- A higher “was” price can make a cut appear larger, even if the item spent little time at that price. Which?’s 2023 check found 14 deals whose stated higher price had not been charged by that retailer in the previous 12 months.
- A countdown can create urgency. The CMA was concerned that most products on Wowcher stayed at a similar price after the daily timer ended; Wowcher agreed to change its practices.
- Different model numbers, sizes or bundles complicate comparisons. Our method matches product options at both moments, while leaving out delivery and discount codes.
Delivery affects the final amount paid, though our charts do not include it. A genuine deadline can be useful; what matters is whether the offer ends as stated.
What does UK law say about sale prices?
UK consumer law prohibits misleading price claims, and a false limited-time claim is specifically banned. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, or DMCC Act, has applied its unfair commercial practices rules since 6 April 2025, replacing the earlier rules on misleading commercial practices. The CMA’s guidance explains the regime, while Schedule 20 of the Act bans a false claim that an offer is available only for a limited time. A genuine deadline is allowed.
A “was” price is judged on its circumstances. Trading standards guidance, updated in April 2026 says a comparison is more likely to comply if the reduced-price period is no longer than the higher-price period. This is guidance, not an automatic rule. Under the DMCC Act, the CMA can decide infringements and impose fines without first going to court.
On 14 October 2026, the CMA fined Wayfair £4.8m for false time-limited offers and Appliances Direct £1.2m. Both admitted breaches and received settlement reductions.
The CMA said Emma Sleep admitted misleading countdown timers and false demand and discount claims in May 2026. In its 30 July 2026 judgment, the High Court found infringements only where Emma had admitted them. It refused the CMA’s proposed rule requiring one sale at the higher price for every two at the lower price. It did not rule that every Emma reference price was lawful.
The government said on 9 August 2026 it would consult in autumn on adding fake “was” prices, invented discounts and misleading RRPs to the automatically banned practices. The consultation was not open as of 28 October 2026. Those price claims remain subject to the general misleading-practices test; false limited-time claims are already banned. Our price check judges no shop’s legal compliance.
