How to actually save money on Black Friday in Australia and NZ

Black Friday has been running in Australia and New Zealand for long enough now that the pattern is clear: a minority of genuine price drops surrounded by a lot of theatre.

## The inflated-RRP problem

The most common trick is simple. A retailer quietly raises the listed “was” price weeks before the sale, then discounts from that inflated figure. The percentage looks enormous. The actual price you pay is the same as it was in September.

Australian Consumer Law does prohibit misleading “was/now” pricing, and the ACCC has taken action over it, but enforcement is slow and the practice persists. In New Zealand the Fair Trading Act covers similar ground through the Commerce Commission.

The defence is price history. Before you buy anything on sale, check what it actually cost over the previous three months. Browser extensions and price-tracking sites make this quick, and our community regularly posts price history in the comments on individual deals.

## Categories that genuinely drop

Some categories reliably see real discounts because the retail margin is wide enough to absorb them:

– **Televisions and large appliances.** Model years turn over in Q1, so late-year clearance on last year’s panel is usually genuine.
– **Headphones and audio.** High margin, heavily competitive, and frequently discounted 30 to 40 percent for real.
– **Fashion and footwear.** End-of-season stock gets cleared properly, particularly outdoor and sports brands.
– **Mattresses and furniture.** Enormous markup, so the sale price is closer to the real value than the RRP ever was.

## Categories that rarely do

Consoles, current-generation phones, and popular LEGO sets almost never see meaningful Black Friday discounts, because they sell fine at full price. A five percent “deal” on a PlayStation is not worth planning around.

Groceries follow their own cycle entirely, driven by supplier promotions rather than retail events.

## Practical approach

Decide what you need before the sale starts, not during it. Write the list, note the price you would consider fair based on history, and buy only when something hits it. Everything else is marketing working exactly as intended.

The single most useful habit is waiting twenty-four hours on anything you had not already planned to buy. Most of the urgency is manufactured, and the genuinely good deals tend to come back.