Black Friday 2022 in Australia is live: these are the best deals on tech, gaming and more

Black Friday 2022 will take place on November 25. We've got just over a month now until the year's biggest sales extravaganza comes around again, but it might be worth keeping an eye out for Black Friday deals starting a week or two earlier – so from about mid-November.

We’ve been seeing retailers start their Black Friday sales about a week early, and it wouldn’t surprise us at all if they come a little earlier this year. That said, we’re likely to see the best offers during the actual four-day Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend itself.

Most online retailers offer Black Friday deals, but it's our job to sort through all the offers to find the very best bargains from the bunch. You'll typically find the best deals on tech from big-name retailers such as Amazon, eBay, JB Hi-Fi, Myer, The Good Guys and Bing Lee leading the pack, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Amazon, of course, is a Black Friday favourite, not only because of the record-low prices seen during big sales, but because it offers discounts on a wide variety of categories. And if the Big Smile Sale held between Oct 10-16 was any indication, we're going to see some seriously deep discounts from the online shopping giant. So whether you're looking for tech items like laptops or AirPods or searching for discounts on clothing, kitchen appliances, or toys, Amazon is likely to offer Black Friday deals on the product you're after. 

Other retailers that offer impressive Black Friday sales include eBay Australia, JB Hi-Fi, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft, Rebel Sport, The Gamesmen, Target and The Iconic, just to name a few.

With a move to the competitive arena of online sales, we're going to be seeing more retailers on the web than ever, and with Amazon leading the charge, there's going to be some fierce price wars come November. That will likely work in your favour, with plenty of retailers vying for the lowest price on the latest gadgets. 

Keep your eyes peeled for early Black Friday teaser deals about a week – maybe two – in advance as retailers will likely want to pique your interest. Our advice would be to start your bargain hunting from about Monday, November 14. While still early, there will likely be preview sales from select retailers to keep you hooked. However, the discounts may not be impressive, but expect them to drop about two to three days before the official Black Friday date.

All of this is going to make Black Friday's online deals all the more important. You'll have a better chance of finding Black Friday AirPod deals at home sitting in your PJs more than you will waiting in line outside of a physical store.

In 2021, the average discount on Black Friday specials was found to be about 24%. In Australia, we found our average Black Friday discounts to be between 25%-30%, and that’s on tech alone. Laptops, for example, can go down all the way to 40% off on average, while personal audio – like Bluetooth headphones and speakers – average around 27% off. Of course, there are items that drop well below the half-price mark too. Take Garmin’s multi-sport watches as an example – when shopping on Amazon, you could get them for up to 52% off sometimes. Each category of tech sees a different discount at different retailers, but rest assured they’ll all by vying for your attention, so expect some seriously good offers.

The term ‘Black Friday’ has two meanings in Australia and they butt heads and cause some controversy. To older Aussies, it refers to the day 71 people in Victoria lost their lives in destructive bushfires in 1939.

However, these days Black Friday is associated with the mega shopping event held annually in November and that’s what we’re discussing here. But how did such a sale event come to be? Here’s a quick history lesson.

The first known mention of Black Friday related to this shopping experience was in November 1951, when the journal Factory Management and Maintenance (opens in new tab) used it to describe people calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving so they could have an extra day off work. At the same time, US police were using the phrases ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Black Saturday’ to describe the horrendous traffic that crowded the streets at the beginning of the pre-Christmas shopping season. In 1961 there was a movement (opens in new tab) from the local governments to change the shopping season to “Big Friday” and “Big Saturday”, but it clearly never caught on, and the notion that it was the time when retailers moved 'back into the black' was seen far later and clearly an attempt to bring positivity to the term.

There was a time, especially in the US, when Black Friday meant physically going to a brick-and-mortar store to shop, mostly to shake off the turkey sweats, while Cyber Monday was exclusively for online deals. Now, however, there’s barely any difference since most deals offered through the November sale period are available online.

As an online sale, Cyber Monday is obviously a more recent development, coming after the advent of the internet and e-commerce. It traditionally marks the point when people realised they needed to get a wriggle on and start buying Christmas presents.

Another point of difference that’s more valid in the US than anywhere else is that Black Friday was traditionally more about electronics and other high-ticket items, while Cyber Monday was more about lifestyle goods. Nowadays, though, they’re both just one big smooshed-together shopping spree over an entire week.

Now, we all knew that trying to get a PS5 or Xbox Series X would be extremely difficult during the last Black Friday, but we also saw that tech and other items, such as the latest Apple devices and the Nintendo Switch consoles, go out of stock very quickly during the sales.

Some of these were actually still available to buy in late November but suffered from very long shipping delays into next year. This would have been brutal news if you were hoping to pick up one of these as a Christmas gift, decided to wait to see if there was a better discount on Black Friday but found out it stayed the same price and wouldn't be dispatched until January.

Adobe Analytics reported a 258% increase in out-of-stock messages in the previous year compared to 2019 and it’s a trend we expect to see again in 2022. That said, the stock situation for some products has definitely improved throughout the year. Take the PS5, for example, which can be found intermittently at multiple retailers at present, but Sony has promised a stock increase to come ahead of the Christmas shopping season. Some camera brands like Canon and Nikon also had low numbers of some of their new models, but that has since changed. However, Dyson seems to be struggling with stock of its latest and best cordless vacuum cleaners.

The semiconductor shortage isn't over, though, and supply chains continue to be stretched, so we still strongly suggest buying more in-demand or new release products early. They are still likely to go out of stock around this time of year. Definitely keep that in mind for Black Friday 2022.

It didn't take long for Black Friday sales to become popular in Australia, especially since it's the only time of the year when we typically see the best prices on a wide variety of items.

And it turns out we Aussies love a bargain – we keep beating previous sale records. Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed (opens in new tab) that, in 2020, retailers saw a 13.2% increase in overall turnover, while online purchases spiked by a 42% increase over the same time in 2019.

In 2021, a NAB analysis (opens in new tab) found that Aussies spent about AU$8 billion over the entire four-day weekend comprising Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This shopping spree beat pre-pandemic (2019) Black Friday records by 8%, with tech and fashion the top choices for Aussie shoppers last year.

So what are we expecting to happen this year? Our prediction is that records will be broken again. With in-person shopping back in full swing and online shopping continuing to become the norm, retailers can look forward to a massive turnover and bargain hunters can relish massive discounts, perhaps some of the deepest of the year.

And the best part is we’re likely to see deals start well before the actual date of November 25, which is good news when we’re all confronted with rising living costs.

Getting the best Black Friday deals often comes down to how much research you do ahead of the event. Use the time you have in the lead up to the event to make sure you know exactly what you want to get out of the sale. That means going beyond finding a TV brand or laptop model that suits you, but looking at what features and specs you will need to fit into your budget. Double check previous sales to see if your shopping list matches prices that have been seen before so that you stay realistic during this step. 

In previous years, we'd usually say that you would want to wait until as close to Black Friday as possible before making a purchase in order to get the best price. The last two years have completely changed our advice, though.

We've seen that when retailers start their sales from early or mid November, the prices on offer are rarely beaten on Black Friday. There may be a small spike in deals during the week leading up to Black Friday itself, but many of the offers you see in the weeks prior are actually as good as they are going to get.

So, with that in mind, if you have a specific product you're looking out for this year, you should really consider buying it as soon as that first deal becomes available. This is especially true if it's a big-ticket item like a games console, 4K TV or tablet. We've seen these haven't been reduced any further on Black Friday and could also suffer from stock issues if they are particularly popular. So, you don't want to miss out on something entirely, we strongly suggest buying early.

If you’ve been shopping during November over the last few years, you’ll know that Black Friday sales are now an established event on the Aussie shopping calendar. Not only are Black Friday deals real, you’ll be able to shop both in store and online.

Generally speaking, there are two types of deals offered during Black Friday. The first has been pre-agreed between brands/retailers and suppliers, so they’re not as off-the-cuff as you might expect. The other is sudden price drops, whether that’s an algorithm working out the best way to attract users to buy (as brands like Amazon often will) or just the big names price-matching one another. 

As with any sales, you’ll see a mix of genuine bargains, discounted end-of-line stock and mysterious things found in the back of a warehouse somewhere.

Sometimes, yes. While brands themselves won’t typically offer cashback on Black Friday deals, your debit card or credit card may. It’s definitely worth looking into – not just for Black Friday 2022 but for any online shopping – when you'll be spending money online.

Yes. In Australia, anything you buy from a company online is covered by a wealth of consumer protection legislation, which gives you the same rights as with any other online purchase.

Unfortunately, Black Friday brings out the scammers as well as the sellers. So be wary of unsolicited emails or links to deals on social media, no matter how legitimate they look: anything asking for card or login details may be a scam. Phishing sites do big business on Black Friday, so be extra suspicious – and if you’re on a PC, make sure your security software is up to date. Many security suites automatically block known scam sites.