We’re SS Deal Experts, and Here’s Our Black Friday Take

Hi! I’m Amanda.

I’m Tommy.

And we’re deal experts! (Can you hear us shouting it in unison?)

Come along with us as we chat about all things Black Friday (Nov. 28) – how we’re feeling about the deals, what economic factors might come into play as you shop, and what’s on our lists this year.

Amanda: My first thought is…I’m a little bored? We just came off of

Amazon’s October Prime Big Deal Days sale and all the other competing retailer sales. I just sort of wonder what’s going to be new, you know? I do look forward to seeing what some of the smaller, local shops have to offer. How are you feeling about it?

Tommy: I’m overwhelmed. That’s the word. I like saving money, but I find all these early deals exhausting.

Amanda: It’s funny, just logging on Instagram, Tiktok — it does feel a little bit like we’re being inundated with gift guides and hauls from all sides.

Tommy: Sometimes I wonder if I would rather just spend an extra $20 on everything for all of this hype to go away? I’ll pay full price if they just leave me alone.

Amanda: With three kids, I don’t know if you could afford that!

Tommy: True.

Amanda: This is the question we return to every year at Black Friday. Is there really a best time to buy, or has that idea become a myth?

Tommy: Paying attention to prices is more important than timing, I’d say. You can get a sense for what’s a good deal by just looking at the price history. And as we’ve seen, good prices come and go whether sales are happening or not.

Amanda: I track products, too. I add items to my cart and check in every couple days to see what the price is. That helps me, because when the actual Black Friday sales happen, I can spot a real deal or just hype.

Tommy: I’m like you — I save items I want in my cart and watch. I know how low the price has gone in the past. I get it when a good deal strikes.

Amanda: I’m always surprised when I see a lower price the week before a big sale than during the actual sale.

New technologies allow retailers to change prices by the day, hour or minute. That can be really frustrating, and it’s a lot different than previous Black Friday pricing models.

I can remember waking up early the day after Thanksgiving with my mom and driving to Best Buy to get in line to buy a DVD player. I might be aging myself, but that memory feels really different from what Black Friday shopping is like today.

Amanda: True — but they might also get caught up and overspend, too. I think the best thing you can do is have a list of your ‘must haves’ and track those in the weeks leading up to a big sale.

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Amanda: Black Friday gives planners like me a hard deadline. You’ve got to get those gifts wrapped and under the tree. There’s an urgency to it that motivates me.

And as we’ve seen in the price-tracking research we’ve done for SS, Black Friday weekend often wins the year for the best price on lots of items, especially tech devices and kitchen gadgets.

Amanda: Some people really thrive under the pressure. They like the Lightning Deal with only three minutes left. That is part of the thrill. They want to wake up the morning after Thanksgiving and see what they can score.

Amanda: We’ve known each other for four years, and I would say that writing about shopping has really changed you.

Tommy: Yeah, I think it has. It’s funny because I’m now painfully aware of how these heavily marketed sale events can hook us, yet I still struggle to avoid impractical, impulsive purchases. I get more mad at myself, though, because I know when I make a wrong move.

What did I do? I let desire win, ordered a new iPhone Air, and hated myself for the couple days I had it. Eventually, I sent it back.

How has it changed you? Because you’ve always been a planner.

Amanda: I’ve learned a lot by covering these sales. Like you, I definitely think about shopping more than I normally would. So my big question to myself is: What am I going to do with what I know now?

Tommy: Nah. I’m not big on AI for shopping yet, but I could see that coming down the road. Keepa and CamelCamelCamel are as fancy as I get right now, for tracking prices. How about you?

Amanda: I’m looking forward to some of the smaller retailers I like — a stationery store, some smaller kids brands and some clean beauty products I’ve had my eye on. What about you?

Tommy: I’m looking for Labubus; just Labubus.

Kidding! I’m after clothes for my wife and mom, and I like grabbing deals on those on actual Black Friday. I’ll browse online at stores like Gap, American Eagle, Old Navy, and some of the higher-end brands, like Vuori, for good bargains. I’ll be doing this all in PJs, with my coffee in hand, of course.

This is a small example, but I was looking up a gift for my son on Amazon — a Paw Patrol Pillow Pet — and there was a note that I had previously purchased this item in 2019 as a gift for someone else.

Out of curiosity, I checked the invoice — it was $19 in 2019 and it will cost me $36 to buy it this year. The price has doubled in six years.

Tommy: Yikes. And like you said, subtle increases across many categories can really impact budgets overall.

Amanda: As parents with young children, I wonder if our kids even remember what they got last year for Christmas? Probably not, right? This could be a chance for families to think about what it means to make holiday magic. Maybe it’s with gifts, but maybe it’s reimagining the holidays in a way that feels right for our budgets.

Tommy: Maybe someone I know will get me an iPhone Air. 🙏