Every year, people jump in their car and head to one of the craziest but cheapest days of the year, Black Friday. This year will definitely look a little different. If anything could stop the madness of Black Friday, it would be a world pandemic.
With Coronavirus hitting us at the beginning of the year and still showing its effects today, many of us are staying indoors. Yet, some restrictions have somewhat been lifted, allowing for Black Friday to possibly continue on as it has in previous years. However, the factors we need to keep in mind this year are not only our physical safety but our health safety too.
Going out and buying a cheap refrigerator or snagging a blender that’s 50% off is one thing, but heading to the store and walking away with Covid-19 is another. So how can communities make this work?
It’s vital to remember that just like every other day, stores will have limited restrictions on who enters. You won’t be able to shove through those front doors but will have to go back to your primary school days where you needed to practice patience and line up to wait for your turn. For your entire shopping experience, wearing a mask and practicing social distancing will be of the utmost importance. Masks will most definitely need to be worn inside the store, but while waiting in line, it’s a great idea to start your safety precautions there. The same goes with social distancing, keeping two metres distance from yourself and the person in front and behind you can lower the risks of spreading the virus.
In saying this, many stores will be encouraging their online sales this year. If you aren’t an avid online shopper, here are some tips to help you get the best deals and practice safe shopping.
Keep cybersecurity top of mind
An online sale often requires you to act quickly, especially on Black Friday, but don’t unnecessarily open yourself up to risk. Make sure the website you’re purchasing from is secure by checking the website address in your browser. There should be an “https” at the start of the website address. The “s” means the site is secure and your data is safe, so avoid shopping on any sites that don’t have the “s”. Click here to read more online safety tips.
Practice beforehand and create accounts
It may sound kind of silly, but if you haven’t been shopping online before, it could be a little tricky for you. To help with this, you can practice beforehand. Head to some of your favourite stores online, which will most likely have “create an account” options available for you, and practice putting items into your shopping cart. Creating the accounts will make shopping easier on Black Friday and practicing shopping may help lessen the stress of the unknown.
Stick to brands and stores you know
Trust remains a crucial issue online and while some sites may say they have 90% off, that doesn’t always mean the site is trustworthy. If you are new to this, stick to the brands and stores you know and love. If you want to step outside of the box, make sure to carry out your research beforehand so you don’t end up being scammed.
Click on this link to quickly access some of the retailers selling Sealy beds online.
Research the products you want
Every so often we get so caught up in the madness that we don’t actually purchase products that are of good quality or that we need. While being online anyway, do some research on what you are buying to make sure you are receiving exactly what you need. It’s helpful to look for reviews, to see what other customers have said about the product.
If you’re buying a mattress online, make sure you know your preferences beforehand (if you like a firm or soft bed, how much support you need, etc.).
Stores selling the same products
Being Black Friday, the chance of websites crashing and products selling out is reasonably high. You can attempt to avoid this by listing the stores that have the products you are looking for. With this, if one store doesn’t have the ability to handle the influx of customers or have run out of the product, you can quickly jump to the next store.
*Bonus tip: leave tabs open on your internet browser with the various online stores so you can quickly jump over to the next one.
Wishlist
Often online stores allow you to create wishlists. This means you can highlight the products that you want and keep them in a little list attached to your account. Once the prices drop, instead of stressing about time and going through every product on sale, you can simply go to your wishlist and add the items to your cart to check out.
Is it really on sale?
Often we can get so frantic while doing something as fast as we can that we don’t realise that we may not actually be getting a deal. If something is on sale, it can look great! But if that sale is only 15% off instead of 80-90%, then that deal may not actually be worth it at all. Make sure to check what the price is beforehand, and then what the sale price is to make sure you are really getting the bargain you were hoping for.
Black Friday will ultimately look different this year, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to dive into some great bargains. If heading out to take on the stores is something you want to do or have to do, please make sure to take proper precautions to not only keep yourself safe but keep others safe too. For those online shoppers, take the steps above to make your online shopping experience cheaper, safer and a little less stressful. We hope you are able to find the bargains you need. Happy shopping!
