The biggest sale of the year is almost here as Black Friday deals and discounts start to go live in the coming days. Considering how easy it is to get lost amongst the hordes of deals (real and fake ones both), we would like to help you prepare in advance for the sales event.
Keeping last year’s Black Friday sales in mind, this year the discounts will only be bigger, available at more stores and easier to get lost in. To help you keep track of your budget and the discounted items, we have made a list of some very helpful tips which will make your Black Friday much more organised and save you some hard-earned cash.
If there’s one trend we have noticed in our local e-stores, it is that they offer additional discounts when you pay using certain payment methods. Some offer discounts when you pay through Easypay or JazzCash while some deals are exclusive to certain credit cards.
In order to be ready when the deals go live, you should register yourself with Easypaisa and JazzCash well in advance and deposit enough amount to get you whatever you intend to buy this Black Friday. Follow our guides on how to get an Easypaisa account and Jazzcash account to get you through the process.
It might seem like going a little overboard, working so hard to prepare for a sale. But you will have to put in some effort if you want to save your cash.
So note down everything you need want to buy whether its clothes, accessories, phones, gadgets, or electronics.
Be specific and list the exact things you intend on buying and be comprehensive. You won’t necessarily buy everything but you should be very clear about what you want.
You don’t want to get side-tracked when the deals go live and waste time and money on items you have no need for. Note down the current prices of the items you want, so you know the real discount you are getting when you look for discounted prices on Black Friday.
Most stores mention old prices when a product was first listed on the store, giving an unreal discount figure. You could save yourself from guessing the actual prices by writing them down in advance.
Keep in mind to list items in order of priority. Priority being based on how important that product is for you and how likely it is to be sold out within a few minutes. Items listed as limited stocks will always be the first ones to go out.
Clothes, for example, won’t be sold out quickly, but smartphones and home appliances will. So follow the order and quickly buy stuff you know will sell out earlier due to limited stocks. So keep this in mind when ordering your wishlist.
Register for accounts on all major online retailers and also sign up for their deals’ newsletters before hand (though it should be mentioned that this also opens you up to a lot of spam emails and messages).
This would save you time as you will get all the major deals in an email and you won’t have to browse the websites.
Creating user accounts will help you get your order across and save those precious few minutes which could end up giving you a “SOLD OUT” notification. You can never be too fast when there are such massive discounts on the line.
Start following brands and e-retailers on social media, i.e. Facebook and Twitter accounts. While e-retailers will share their best deals on social media, you will also get a quick review of the best deals through users’ comments.
Also follow brands. They might not have their own online stores, but you can get discount info for their products on different online and offline stores.
You won’t get much information about actual stores while online, and this is your best bet in getting that info so you don’t end up visiting stores and wasting you time.
When talking about preparation for the Black Friday deals, the most important part are, of course, the deals themselves.
Note down all announcements about the Black Friday sales. We have already seen a few online retailers announce their schedule in advance for the sales day(s).
You can also keep checking ProPakistani, as well will keep you updated on the stores which are offering the biggest deals and the times and duration of those discounts on each store.
Where most online retailers will be offering actual discounts, some shady new e-stores will be looking to con customers into buying fake items or products without warranties. So when looking for deals, it’s good to check all places but you should only order from a seller you trust.
Also keep in mind to read the return and warranty policies of all online stores so you don’t end up regretting if the product you got was not to your liking or if it goes faulty within the first few weeks of use.
All popular e-retailers have returns and warranty policies linked at the bottom of their homepages so its better to familiarize yourself with their policies before making that purchase.
While Pakistani retailers will ship through their own fixed shipping methods, you can choose from multiple options if you plan on importing some massively discounted products from abroad.
If you plan on buying items from Amazon, Walmart, eBay and other foreign retailers, you should prepare for a shipping service in advance. Get quotes for their shipping charges and any custom duties which could be applicable to your purchased item.
There are many Pakistani services which allow you to ship to a US address and then ship it to you in Pakistan, allowing you to make full use of international Black Friday discounts.
If there’s anything else you think we missed and might be helpful to Black Friday buyers, sound off in the comments below.
