MONEY

Know your consumer rights for the best Black Friday feeling

The lure of bargains and limited window for cut-price offers can drive us into the arms of retailers, but make sure you learn the art of the deal
Eithne Dunne
The Sunday Times
The rise of Black Friday and Cyber Monday means you can hunt discounts from the comfort of your own home. Irish consumers spend about €300 each on the sales
The rise of Black Friday and Cyber Monday means you can hunt discounts from the comfort of your own home. Irish consumers spend about €300 each on the sales
GETTY
Eithne Dunne
The Sunday Times

For the many retailers who have hopped aboard the Black Friday and Cyber Monday train, it is full steam ahead at the moment. Black Friday, which started as the traditional shopping Friday after Thanksgiving in the US, is this week. Cyber Monday, when products are heavily discounted online, is on December 2.

The phenomena have certainly caught on in Ireland; research by discounts provider Picodi shows that Irish people on average buy four items in the Black Friday sales, spending about €300.

The most popular category is electronics, followed by clothes, shoes, fragrances and jewellery. The average discount during the Black Friday sales here last year was 61%, though that figure comes with a health warning.

“You need to be careful,” says Martin Meany, founding