Black Friday 2020: when does it start and finish?

Global retail sales have plummeted due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic - with some notable exceptions - so there had been concerns that this year’s Black Friday may not go ahead as planned. The popular bargain day is always set for the fourth Friday in November the day after Thanksgiving in the United States.

Black Friday is a relatively recent invention but one that has quickly become an important date in the diary for people looking to get some incredible offers in the lead up to Christmas. Many outlets push out discounts of varying degrees across their product ranges or offer up limited edition items. And this exceptional year sees exceptional sales.

Black Friday 2020 will be on 27 November

So, this year Black Friday will go ahead this year on Friday 27 November and that will be followed, as is now tradition, with Cyber Monday a few days later on 30 November. Expect the majority of retailers to have offers running throughout the entire weekend.

There's great news for music lovers, who can look forward to the exclusive Record Store Day releases available on Black Friday.

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Pre-Black Friday sales started on 26 October for Amazon

As you may already know - and you've likely personally aided it - Amazon has seen record profits during the pandemic. With many people trying to avoid the local brick-and-mortar options, the online behemoth has reaped the rewards. And this saw the Jeff Bezos give the green light to his sales teams getting ahead of the game by launching its 'pre-Black Friday' offers a whole month ahead of the official event. Naturally, others followed, and by the time you read this you may have already benefited from some deals.

With that in mind, when the pre-Christmas sales end is hard to say, as retailers will be keen to squeeze out as much as possible over the final few weeks of the year.

While many shoppers are reluctant to return to the high street, online sales are therefore predicted to continue to benefit and could reach new record levels when the official event arrives. It is expected that in the United States, consumers will spend around $50 billion on Black Friday, while in the UK, where the occasion is a more recent phenomenon, that figure is estimated to be around 6-7 billion pounds.

Head along to your favourite stores and check out what's on offer, although it's always a good idea to go knowing what you want to buy so that your basket doesn't fill up with unnecessary items due to seductive marketing.

Another tip is to not always get overly excited by the stated discount - check previous prices and at competitors' stores before pressing the pay button.

And if you do decide to take advantage of the local stores then make sure to follow all the coronavirus safety guidelines and try to go at a time that may be less busy.