Black Friday Without The Blindfold

Your inbox is shouting “40% off,” but your gut says something’s off. We dig into the Black Friday spectacle and show how urgency, scarcity, and anchoring combine to sell ordinary prices as once-a-year steals. With clear stories from the front lines of retail and supply chain, we explain why the biggest winners are often the stores clearing old stock before Christmas—not the shoppers chasing countdown timers.

We break down the psychology that powers the hype: FOMO from limited-time offers, inflated “was” prices that anchor your expectations, and the social pressure that turns scrolling into spending. Then we zoom out to the operations layer—how seasonal surges stress logistics, why stockouts and delays happen, and how discount culture jars with sustainability goals by driving overconsumption and higher returns. It’s retail theatre with a backstage pass.

Most importantly, we arm you with a pro buyer’s playbook. Set a benchmark price before you click. Use price history tools like CamelCamelCamel, Keepa, and PriceSpy to verify real lows. Compare across retailers to expose faux exclusives. Time your purchases using seasonal cycles—electronics often drop further in January, while fashion and home goods lean cheaper in end-of-season sales. Ignore inflated “was” tags, read reviews for durability and energy efficiency, and don’t get trapped by bundles or add-on warranties that bloat your cart without adding value.

If you crave the lowest total cost of ownership, data beats drama. Listen now, take the checklist into your next deal hunt, and keep your wallet in charge. If you found this useful, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves a “deal,” and leave a quick review to help others shop smarter.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Subscribe
• 0:24 The Black Friday Inbox Blitz
• 1:21 Are These “Deals” Real
• 2:01 Psychology Behind The Hype
• 3:02 Supply Chains And Stock Clearance
• 3:38 Who Really Wins
• 4:49 Smarter Shopper Playbook
• 7:03 Price History Over Anchors
• 8:28 Avoid Bundles And Warranties
• 9:20 Final Takeaways And Sign Off

Transcript

Tony Hines: 0:00

Hi, Tony Hines here, you're listening to Chain Reaction, all about supply chain advantage. Well thanks for stopping by today. We've got a great episode, it's coming down the track in just a few moments, so stick around, stay tuned, stay informed, and stay ahead with Chain Reaction. Subscribe to Chain Reaction, you'll be first to know when new episodes are out, and you'll never miss an episode. Now it's that time of year again, it's Black Friday, and we see all the deals, supposedly, in our inboxes. We're peppered by every retailer, everyone that's got access to any permissions that you've given to pepper your inbox, letting all those kookies reside in the marketer's file. And everyone's sending you all kinds of stuff. You get lots of dross, lots of things says forty percent off, but forty percent off when, what, why and how? Well, I've seen lots of deals, supposedly, coming into my mailbox, telling me that there's forty percent off this, that the price is low, lowest ever price. And I look at it, and I think I've seen this price before. And then if you go back and you track things on price checkers and history checkers of prices, you'll see that they were probably as cheap, if not cheaper, sometime a few months back. So are we really getting the deals that we think we're getting? Unlikely. Occasionally. And some of the biggest retailers are the ones most to blame for well, no other word for it, is there? Telling porkies. Telling us that this is the cheapest price and best price you'll ever get. Probably if you go from Black Friday to Cyber Monday you might even get better deals. And if you wait until after Christmas, you probably get even better deals. So there we are. It's just a marketer's hoax. Every November retailers promise the deal of the year. But are we really saving? Black Friday's origins in the United States and its adoption into the UK and its evolution into a global retail event have caught and captured the imagination of consumers. Looking for a deal. But to explore whether Black Friday delivers genuine value or is just clever marketing, or not so clever marketing, we're gonna look at that. The retail psychology behind Black Friday is the scarcity and the surgency. Limited time offers trigger fear of missing out, the FOMO effect. And then there's the anchoring effect. Was £999, now £499, or dollars, or Euros, whatever. Even if it is now four nine nine, and it says that's a deal. Was the regular price last month? The same? Lower? Higher? And then there's consumer fatigue. Too many overlapping sales dilute trust and interest. When it comes to supply chains and retail strategy, it's an inventory clearance exercise. Retailers use Black Fridays to move older stock before Christmas. And for global logistics, seasonal surges stress supply chains, often leading to stockouts or delayed deliveries. And from a circular economy angle, discount culture encourages overconsumption, clashing with sustainability goals. So all in all, is it a good thing? Well not really. It's just a marketing ploy. It's a tactic. Studies show ninety eight to a hundred percent of products are cheaper or the same price outside of Black Friday. And genuine deals do exist, but mostly on big ticket tech items or lost leaders designed to lure shoppers. Price tracking tools reveal post Black Friday drops in December and January. And if you look back over the past years, that's what's happened. But how do consumers behave? Well, there is some shopper skepticism. Its growing awareness of fake deals reduces the enthusiasm for Black Friday. Then there are smart shopping strategies, wish list planning, price history checks, and resisting impulse buys. There are also generational differences. Younger consumers are more likely to use apps and tools to verify deals. Our conclusion here on Chain Reaction is Black Friday is less about bargains, it's more about retail theatre. The real winners are retailers, clearing stock and boosting footfall. Don't let the hype dictate your wallet. Let data and planning guide your choices. So here's the thing. What can consumers do? What can you do to make sure you're getting a good price? Well you can do what professional buyers would do. Use the tools. You can check price history on sites such as Camel Camel Camel, the Amazon Price Checker, or you can go to PriceSpy or Keeper or a number of other sites that have details of prices and how they've changed over time. If the deal price is the same as last month as a regular price, then it's not a bargain. You can compare across other retailers, don't rely on one store discount banner. Check at least three or four retailers for the same product. You'll find that some exclusive deals, many in fact, are available elsewhere, at similar or lower prices. I've seen prices for consumer goods, particularly electronics where it says this is our best price ever, and within seconds you can find a lower price from another retailer. Now some retailers of course then offer price match, but why would you go to the one that was dearer in the first place? Unless you happen to be in store at the time and you just it's convenient for you to just pick it up and go. Watch out for seasonal trends. Electronics often drop further in January sales than they do around Black Friday. And fashion and home goods may be cheaper in end of season clearances. Know how the cycles work, and that'll help you spot whether your Black Friday price is the lowest point. Ignore all those was prices, they're just retail fiction. Sometimes they put them up a week or two before the Black Friday, so that they can say drop by forty percent. They exaggerate the discount, because it might have been at the similar price a few weeks back. And it might have even been cheaper in the summer. Focus on the actual selling price history, not the marketing anchor. Use independent deal checkers. Go to sites like in the UK, which or Money Saving Expert or Consumer Reports, take a look at those. Those reports often publish lists of genuine deals and fake ones. And these watchdogs highlight products that are actually cheaper than usual. And set your own benchmark, decide what you're willing to pay before you go on to a site or before the sales start. And if the prices don't come to the figure that you've set yourself, just leave it and wait. Remember, it's easier to buy something at the price that you want it, but you might have to wait a short time. So be patient. The retailers on the other hand can't be too patient because they don't want their storeroom or their inventory clogging up. They have to move it on all the time, so at some point they're gonna have to discount to move it. If the price meets or beats your benchmark, it's a good deal for you. Regardless of the discount percentage. A cheap product of course isn't a good deal, especially if it's poor quality. Read the reviews, consider the total value, durability, warranty, energy, efficiency, and so on, rather than just the upfront cost. Never buy something just on price. Remember, a professional buyer wouldn't, so you shouldn't. The bottom line is a good price is the one that's lower than the product's typical selling price, and meet your personal value criteria. The smarter shoppers treat Black Friday as a data driven exercise, not an emotional one. And the other thing to avoid are all those cross selling items that they tag on at the bottom just before you press the buy. They'll say, Oh, it's packaged with this or it's packaged with that and they'll list a number of items, and before you know where you are, you'll have paid fifty percent more to add on these items. It's a typical sales pitch at the end, just to get that extra bit of cash from you. So don't get sucked into those deals. You'll probably find those deals are available at better prices elsewhere. If they're not and you want the item, yeah, that's okay. Buy it. If you don't, just untick the box. Make sure you don't buy. And the other thing is, any warranties, retail warranties, often not worth the paper they're written on, because you have all sorts of consumer protections built into the purchase initially anyway. So don't fall for that one either. So Black Friday, Cyber Monday, they're just marketing hype. Well that's it for this episode all on Black Friday, and the discounts you won't get unless you're vigilant and unless you behave like a professional buyer. So follow the tips, get the deal you want, and have a good time. I'll see you next time in the Chain Reaction Podcast, where we'll be talking supply chains once again. I'm Tony Hines, I'm signing off. See you next time. Bye for now.