When the Black Friday deals begin in mid-late November, you're going to see lots of different retailers trying desperately to undercut each other, but the John Lewis Black Friday sales could be the best of the bunch. That's because the shopping giant is outright pledging to match the price of any of its competitors once the sales season starts.
On its website, John Lewis claims "even during our Black Friday event we'll be checking and responding to competitors' promotions and prices" so if you see a great Black Friday laptop deal somewhere else, it'll likely be available at John Lewis for that price very soon.
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This is part of John Lewis' 'Never Knowingly Undersold' promise, in which it promises to never knowingly sell products for cheaper than competitors. That's going to be a tall order during the Black Friday season, as all shops, from big chains to small independent stores, will be slashing prices, so you shouldn't rely on one retailer for all your purchases.
Saying that, it's useful to know one retailer is pledging to be the cheapest of the lot, whatever its competitors throw at it – but could this simply be a challenge that all others will accept?
Black Friday will be digital
It's worth noting an addendum John Lewis makes on its website: "You may not always see these offers in store as it’s quicker to make price changes online", so this is a case of digital shopping being preferable to physically going to a store.
This is emblematic of a bigger shift – Black Friday is changing. The dreaded date has been known for the violent brawls which erupt in stores when cheap products are in short supply, which made the deals inaccessible to people who don't want to fight for the discounts – but not any more.
For most people it's easier to frequent a website than a shop (partly because it's generally frowned upon to do the latter in your pyjamas), and indeed, statistics show most people do their Black Friday shopping online, with the majority actually doing so on mobile devices.
If you're a website fan yourself, it's worth knowing that the best website for you over Black Friday is TechRadar, as we'll be collecting all the best deals and savings in a range of categories. Make sure to bookmark our Black Friday homepage, as well as our John Lewis Black Friday page, so we can bring you the best deals as they appear.
