Black Friday 2024 kicks off in less than a week, but retailers from Currys, Argos and Debenhams to Boots and Shark have already kicked off their sales. Ecommerce giant Amazon is the latest to launch, with Sony PlayStation and Glossier joining this weekend.
Whether you’re looking to stock up on beauty essentials, replace your old laptop or invest in a new mattress, the IndyBest team is compiling hundreds of deals in our Black Friday shopping guides. But for real-time updates on discounts and news as it drops, our liveblog has you covered.
But, whether you’re after a TV, toys, jewellery or furniture, the biggest price drops aren’t necessarily the most impressive. The best, genuine deals are those on products that are actually worth your money, so we’ll make sure to bring you offers on items we’ve tested ourselves.
So far, Dyson’s Black Friday sale has discounted the cultairwrap, Sony has discounted the price of the PS5 Slim to an all-time low and Pandora has just launched its sale with up to 30 per cent off jewellery. Elsewhere, you can find bargains at John Lewis, Argos, Lookfantastic and more. It’s shaping up to be one of the biggest Black Friday sales ever.
Read more: Best Black Friday deals to shop, according to a shopping expert
The Zara Black Friday 2024 deals I can’t wait for
Whether I’m after an occasion dress, a staple pair of heels for party season or a knitted jumper to complete my winter wardrobe, Zara is my favourite destination on the high street for affordable fashion – and the brand’s Black Friday sale is a highlight of the shopping calendar.
Zara hosts a few sales throughout the year but its Black Friday event is the most anticipated. In 2023, the brand offered 40 per cent off selected items, while previous years have seen site-wide discounts of 20 to 30 per cent.
From winter coats and boots to party dresses, skirts and knits, the 2024 sale will be your chance to refresh your wardrobe for the new year, and at a fraction of the cost. Below, I’ve rounded up everything you need to know, including offers available to shop now.
Save 20% on the Meta Quest 3 VR headset
“With full-colour passthrough, higher resolution displays and pancake lenses, this is the VR headset to beat” our tech writer Alex said in his review of the device. Now, you can secure an incredible saving thanks to Amazon’s Black Friday sale.
Meta Quest 3 512GB: Was £619.99, now £468.28, Amazon.co.uk
Owing to the launch of the cheaper Meta Quest 3S (it costs just £290), Meta has repriced the existing Meta Quest 3 to make its original (and still best) VR headset more enticing. The 512GB model is the most storage you can get and has come down from £619.99 to £469. It features more sophisticated lenses than those found in the budget Meta Quest 3S, so visuals look a little sharper, and it’s slimmer too.
Why is it called Black Friday?
The first use of Black Friday dates back to the Fifties in Philadelphia, where the local police department coined the term to describe the huge traffic jams, overcrowded pavements and mobbed stores in the city on the day after Thanksgiving.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that the phrase caught on in the rest of America, and was used as a marketing ploy to promote the consumer event and encourage sales. It was then deployed as a reference to the financial status of stores, as they went from being “in the red” to “in the black” as profits increased.
It has since become one of the biggest shopping events in the calendar – not just in the United States, but also in the UK and other parts of the world.
While it was once just a one-day sale, it’s now evolved into a four-day bonanza, and in some cases, it spans the entire month of November, with deals on tech, beauty, home appliances, fashion, toys and much more.
The best Black Friday travel deals for 2024
With Black Friday almost here, get prepared to tick iconic destinations off your travel bucket list in 2025 by bagging a bargain on short- and long-haul journeys in the Black Friday sales – whether you’re dreaming of European city breaks or trips to the Caribbean.
Travel writer Natalie has rounded up everything you need to know about the travel Black Friday sales below:
My top Black Friday shopping tips to help you get the best deals in the sale
If you’re ever looking to save bundles of cash on tech, fashion, stuff for the home or kitchen gadgets, Black Friday is a date you absolutely need to bookmark. The mammoth sale, which takes place this month, sees all the hottest products plummet in price.
The IndyBest team have been covering and tracking discounts in the Black Friday sales for years now. Trust us, it really is the best time to find a super discount on items for yourself or gifts for Christmas.
For our tips and tricks, check out our Black Friday cheat sheet below:
The Kindle paperwhite is at its lowest ever price
Bookworms, you can get the Kindle at its cheapest-ever price right now. Considered the best ereader in our review, The Independent’s tech critic David Phelan praised the device for being “really exceptional (gaining the top spot in this round-up)”. He added: “The front light has also been improved recently, to make it subtler and adjustable in terms of warmth as well as brightness. Like the oasis, the paperwhite is waterproof – it’s able to withstand submersion in 2m of water for up to an hour.”
Save £150 on Sage’s barista express coffee machine
Our tester named this fancy Sage barista the best bean-to-cup coffee machine in their review. Now, you can snap it up in John Lewis’s Black Friday sale with a discount just shy of £130.
Barista express bean-to-cup coffee machine: Was £629.99, now £495, Johnlewis.com
“You can tinker with the settings to your heart’s content, including the grind size of the bean and the volume of coffee, plus, of course, creating microfoam, using the steam wand”, our reviewer noted. “We found we made dreamy cups of coffee with little fuss right from the get-go”, they added. What more could you want when making your morning brew?
This teeth whitening powder is on sale
There are so many products on the market right now, from teeth whitening strips and gel pens to toothpaste and LED devices – all designed to remove those stubborn yellow stains from your teeth, and with minimal expense at that.
MySweetSmile teeth whitening powder: Was £24.99, now £18.17, Amazon.co.uk
Taking the top spot in our review of the best teeth whitening kits, it was found to be “pleasant to use, with no issues of sensitivity – thanks to the inclusion of strontium chloride”, with our beauty tester nothing that she had a “naturally upgraded white smile after just a couple of weeks’ use”.
My favourite budget mascara is on sale
Proving that you don’t need to spend a fortune on excellent make-up, Maybelline mascaras are a cult favourite for good reason. The brand’s sky high mascara had a big viral moment on TikTok a few years ago – and is the ultimate for natural yet impressive-looking lashes.
Maybelline New York lash sensational sky high mascara: Was £12.99, now £8.84, Amazon.co.uk
Maybelline’s New York sensational sky high mascara boasts a uniquely designed brush that’s long, thin and densely packed with tiny little plastic bristles. This makes it ideal for getting to hard-to-reach areas and easy to manoeuvre from all angles with minimal mess. In Sarah’s in-depth review of the mascara, she raved about the tiny bristles that line the wand, which she found “helped comb through each and every lash – yes, even those pesky ones right in the corner”. You can pick it up for nearly half price right now.
The best deals in the Boots Black Friday 2024 sale
Boots kicked off its Black Friday 2024 sale an entire month early, and I can confirm it’s mega.
The full Black Friday sale doesn’t officially kick off until the final Friday of November, after Thanksgiving, and the reductions will continue throughout the weekend, finishing on Cyber Monday (2 December).
If you want to get ahead of the action, Boots has reduced the price of more than 22,000 products across premium beauty, fragrance, electrical beauty, and much more. Our beauty writer, Lucy, has rounded up her favourite deals below.