Last Updated on 20/12/2025 by Rasheed Busari
Black Friday is around the corner, the world’s biggest shopping season. How are you preparing for Black Friday sales?
Black Friday has evolved from a U.S. post-Thanksgiving shopping event into a global retail phenomenon and event. Today, shoppers all nooks and crannies of the world, from New York to China, Lagos to London, Dubai to Delhi, São Paulo to Singapore, all rush online and in-store in search of the “best deals of the year” with millions of products discounted, flash sales running every hour, and constant notifications from apps and retailers to psychologically prepare buyers for compulsive and impulse buying.
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Black Friday has evolved from a weekend of sales to a global retail event that shapes consumer spending habits across the world, with billions of dollars spent in a single day to take advantage of the best deals of the year. Black Friday can quickly shift from an opportunity to a financial trap, and you must approach Black Friday with strategy, discipline, and financial intelligence. Otherwise, it becomes easy to overspend, fall for marketing traps, or buy things you don’t need.
This guide will help you approach Black Friday with clarity, discipline, and financial intelligence and reveal proven ways to maximize your money during Black Friday Sales 2025, no matter where you live.
1. Set a Black Friday Spending Limit
Before opening any shopping app or visiting a store, set a firm spending limit and decide:
How much can I comfortably spend without affecting rent, feeding, transport, bills, savings, or emergency fund?
This is your Black Friday Budget Ceiling. Discipline beats discounts. Before opening any shopping app or visiting a store, set a firm spending limit. A simple formula you can use:
Black Friday Budget = (10–20% of your monthly disposable income)
Disposable income = Income minus essential expenses (housing, food, utilities, transport, bills, savings, insurance).
Whether you earn in dollars, pounds, euros, dirhams, yuan, or naira, your limit protects your long-term goals. If you don’t set a budget, retailers will set one for you through emotional and impulse spending.
Remember, Black Friday is not a financial emergency; it is a marketing event.
2. Plan Your Shopping List
Impulse buying is a global household problem, and your best defense is having a written shopping list. In your list, include items you genuinely need and avoid trend-driven items and emotional purchases driven by fear of missing out (FOMO).
3. Compare Prices Across Multiple Global Stores
Different countries offer different prices, even for the same product. Compare prices across global stores, regional stores, and local stores to ascertain the best deals. Most stores hide under import duty, shipping fees, VAT, return policy, and delivery timeline to make customers pay more while offering discounts on the selling price. A “discount” in one region may cost more once shipping and duty are included. Compare fees and other charges related to the price tag across multiple platforms to ascertain if the deal is worth it or not. A cheap product with high shipping costs or a poor warranty is not truly a deal.
4. Watch Out for Marketing Traps
Retailers worldwide use psychological triggers to psychologically and emotionally prepare buyers to participate in the best deals of the season. They use triggers like:
- Flash sales
- Countdown timers
- “Only 2 left in stock!”
- “12,000 people added this item to their cart”
- Cart abandonment emails with “extra discounts”
These triggers exploit and promote urgency and scarcity bias to make buyers think they are missing out. Pause before completing any purchase and ask:
- “Do I need this?”
- “Am I buying this at full price or a discounted price?”
- “Does this purchase align with my financial goals?
5. Watch Out for Fake Deals
Many retailers raise prices weeks before Black Friday, then drop them back down to appear discounted.
To avoid this:
- Use price trackers such as Google Shopping to track prices
- Check historical prices
- Read product reviews
- Verify official store pricing
If the discount looks too good to be true, it probably is.
6. Shop Early, Many Deals Start Weeks Before Black Friday
Black Friday is no longer a one-day sale event. Retailers now run a series of sale events before Black Friday:
- Early Black Friday deals
- Pre-sale events
- Cyber Week
- Cyber Monday
- Holiday deals
By starting early, you avoid:
- Out-of-stock items
- Long queues
- Website crashes
- End-of-sale price hikes
Stay ahead of the crowd and focus on the deals.
7. Prioritize High-Value Purchases, Not High-Emotion Purchases
Use the global 3-category purchasing system to prioritize your purchases:
A. Must-Have (Essential Needs)
Items you must purchase for work, home, or important daily use necessary for work, home, or daily life.
E.g., work laptop, home appliances, children’s essentials, school or office equipments.
B. Should-Have (Useful Soon)
Useful soon but not urgent. These are items that are beneficial but not urgent.
E.g., software renewal, office chair, household items, smart home devices.
C. Nice-to-Have (Low Priority)
Good but not essential. These are items to buy only if money remains after settling the must-have and should-have.
E.g., gadgets, fashion, accessories, etc
To maximize your money and have efficient use of your money, kindly set and prioritize your deals in this order.
8. Post-purchase Audit
Across all countries, financially successful people do post-purchase audits to review spending decisions. To maximize your money long-term, evaluate:
- Did you stick to your budget?
- Did you buy from your list?
- Were the deals truly worth it?
- What would you improve for next year?
A post-purchase audit builds discipline and sharpens your financial mindset.
Final Thoughts
Seasonal sales are here to stay globally. The smartest shoppers are those who see Black Friday not as a shopping festival but as a strategy game. With a clear budget, strong discipline, and a value based mindset, you can enjoy discounts without compromising your financial purse.
Black Friday is global, exciting, and full of potential savings, but it can also be a trap for undisciplined shoppers. If you plan ahead, compare prices smartly, avoid emotional purchases, and purchase things that add real value to your life.
Great deals return every year. Financial regret lasts longer.
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