Black Friday: How to avoid impulsive and emotional shopping

Black Friday is on 29 November, closely followed by Cyber Monday. If you plan to hit the shops online or in person, the best advice is to hide your credit card to avoid impulsive and emotional shopping and plan before you shop.

However, John Manyike, head of financial education at Old Mutual, says you should not follow the crowds and should rather be guided by your own financial priorities. He also suggests ignoring the inevitable marketing hype designed to sway you into making impulse purchases.

Before parting with your hard-earned cash, Manyike suggests you hide your credit card and:

Plan your seasonal shopping

The festive season evolved into a time of high spending on buying gifts, entertaining and even enjoying a relaxing vacation. Many consumes think that Black Friday offers a way to save money on these expenses and provides an opportunity to avoid the festive rush. By planning your seasonal shopping in advance, you can make Black Friday work in your favour.

“Just stick to your plan, because if you do not, you can run into financial trouble.”

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Ask yourself if you’ll really save money?

Do not take special deals at face value. Some retailers may use various tricks to entice you into spending money you never planned to spend, such as making a discount appear larger than it actually is by marking up an item before applying the discount to give a false impression of an insurmountable bargain.

“If you see what you think is a good price, compare it online with what other retailers are charging. It may be that the discount is not as great as you thought,” Manyike says.

He also warns that some retailers may use Black Friday as an opportunity to rid their shelves of old or unwanted stock and then a large discount would make sense, but always run comparisons to hunt for the best deals.

Do not give in to your emotions

Marketing typically appeals to your emotions and strategies around Black Friday invariably generate FOMO: fear of missing out.

“FOMO is commonly known in the financial industry and explains sudden buying surges on the stock market, which can lead to market bubbles. Emotions such as fear, envy and greed cloud your judgement. You are likely to make better financial decisions if you try to remain rational, objective and emotionally detached.”

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Think about shopping in-store versus online

Manyike says you physically see what you get when shopping in-store, but considering the crowds that characterise Black Friday, going online may be a better option. However, this brings its own risks.

“Only use credible and trusted online sites and make sure the payment method is secure. Beware of strange emails, never click on unfamiliar links and use strong passwords to protect your personal information.”

Avoid buying on credit

Remember if you buy on credit, you end up paying more, which cancels any discount. “Generally speaking, I would suggest that if you cannot afford to pay cash for the item, it is not worth getting further into debt, as the value of any discount will be gobbled up by interest and finance charges.

“Larger items that you were going to buy on credit in any way may be an exception, such as a car, if these are subject to Black Friday special deals,” Manyike says.