Prime Day vs Black Friday: What genuine deals can I get and when?
At RadioTimes.com, we help you do the things you love for less, and that includes making informed purchasing decisions. Here's the low-down the two biggest sales events of the year, and when to bag the biggest savings.
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Amazon Prime Day 2024 is in its second and final day, and Black Friday is mere months away, with discounts across the whole of November. But which sales event is best for certain products? And how do you know you’re getting a good deal? The RadioTimes.com team are onboard to help you get the most bang for your buck, and, as this isn’t our first rodeo, you can trust that we’ll only suggest genuine deals.
Helping you do the things you love for less is at the heart of everything the RadioTimes.com team does. Whether that’s the Going Out team telling you how to secure cheap tickets for the activities you enjoy, such as in our how to get cheap concert tickets, how to get cheap theatre tickets, and how to get cheap cinema tickets guides; the Technology team finding the top savings for the month on a range of streaming services, such as Disney Plus offers, and on reputable brands like our Meta Quest 3 deals, Nintendo Switch offers, and Google Pixel 8 deals.
A lot of the discounts we suggest to you are products we’ve recommended in our best lists, which, in turn, are usually featured because we’ve had hands-on review time with the products, and liked them. For example, in our best AirPods alternatives guide, the Technology team recommended the Sony WF-1000XM4 as we awarded them 4.9 stars in our 2021 Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds review.
Plus, as we mentioned earlier, 2024's Amazon Prime Day isn’t our first rodeo, and Black Friday 2024 won’t be either. The RadioTimes.com team keeps an ear to the ground for top savings all year round, and will suggest them to you in the form of breakout articles. For example, you can have a read of our Meta Quest 3 deal, Amazon Music Unlimited deal, and Prime Video offer which sees an extended 30-day trial.
Let’s take a look at what is so special about Amazon Prime Day, and here are some early Black Friday predictions to see which sales event is best suited to you.
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Jump to:
- What is special about the Amazon Prime Day 2024 deals?
- What does Prime Day do well?
- What deals we expect for Black Friday 2024
- When is Black Friday?
- How do you know if something is a good deal?
What is special about the Amazon Prime Day 2024 deals?
Before Amazon Prime Day 2024 even kicked off, we expected it to be a big one. After all, insights site Statistica reported that in 2023, Prime Day sales worldwide reached the equivalent of approximately $12.5 billion, and with the continuing Amazon revenue growth rate, we can only assume this figure will be higher when the sales end this year.
In terms of spending intent, it's predicted that UK shoppers have our eyes on toys and gaming items. As well as essentials such as kitchen and household appliances.
On gaming, we've seen the lowest-ever Meta Quest 3 price since the VR headset was released back in October 2023. When Prime Day 2024 began yesterday (Tuesday 16th July), we saw the VR headset take a price slashing from £479.99 to £409.99, saving you £70. However, today (Wednesday 17th July), the Meta Quest 3 was reduced even further, to £368.99, saving you a massive £111.
Plus, there are plenty of Prime Day PS5 deals to sink your teeth into, too.
Our friends at MadeForMums have certainly seen fantastic offers on beloved toys this Prime Day 2024, with Yoto Amazon Prime offers and Tonies Amazon Prime deals coming out on top. Plus, the parenting site has also rounded-up the best Amazon Prime toy deals, so no matter what age or personality the child you're shopping for has, you're sure to find that perfect present.
For more information about essential appliances, we asked our friends over at Good Food for some intel. Natalie Bass, Digital Reviews Writer for goodfood.com, said: "Prime Day is a great opportunity to get a good deal on those kitchen appliances you might have had your eye on for a while. Air-fryers, for example, have become a must-have appliance for many households."
The Good Food team always keep an eye out for the latest deals and trends, which is why they’re able to compare the savings and stock levels from last year to this year. In this year's Amazon Prime Day, Natalie has scoured the site for the best deals, finding a 65% saving on the Cuisinart FP8U Easy Prep Pro food processor, 62% off the Protein Works vanilla crème diet whey isolate 90, and half price off the Stellar 7000 5-piece pan set, as well as plenty more deals in the best Prime Day kitchen deals guide.
Have you heard there are fantastic Prime Day LEGO deals such as this LEGO Millennium Falcon offer?
What does Prime Day do well?
On top of amazing gaming, toys, and appliance deals, one thing that Amazon certainly delivers on is great discounts on its own products.
Amazon Prime Day is a Prime member-exclusive event. On this sales day, Amazon want you to spend on them. Now is the time to look at Amazon Echo speakers, Fire TVs and Fire TV sticks, Kindles, Ring Doorbells, and more. So if you're shopping for an Amazon-own device or streaming service, you can be fairly certain that the price will be the lowest yet.
So what Amazon-own products and streaming services have we seen get discounted? Well, there's a five month free Amazon Music Unlimited offer, great Ring doorbell deals, three months free Kindle Unlimited as well as top Kindle offers. We've also seen Fire TVs get a price slash in the best Prime Day TV deals.
Remember, you have to be a Prime member to access these fantastic deals. If you're not yet a Prime member, you can access a 30-day free trial, then it'll be £8.99 per month thereafter.
Start your 30-day free Amazon Prime trial
What deals we expect for Black Friday 2024
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are notoriously good for technology deals, as well as gadgets and appliances including electric toothbrushes, hair styling devices, and vacuums.
The RadioTimes.com team got stuck into the Black Friday savings last year, and the top offers included savings on LEGO sets, gaming computers and accessories, and household items like vacuums, as well as plenty of subscription discounts such as a DAZN NFL Game Pass for 99p.
But what is Gaming Editor and host of One More Life podcast, Rob Leane predicting for Black Friday 2024? He said: "Black Friday is always an exciting time for gamers, as it's often your last chance to get cut-price stock before the busy Christmas season kicks off. If there's anything that gaming retailers are trying to shift ahead of the festive crush, this is probably when you'll see price cuts."
If we're talking about wish-list items, the Technology team are hoping to see some reductions on Samsung devices, namely the Samsung Galaxy Ring which was announced at this year's Galaxy Unpacked event. Cross your fingers for us!
For more of the great new releases at the Galaxy Unpacked event, take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 release date, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 release date, Samsung Galaxy Buds3 release date, and Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 release date pages.
When is Black Friday?
Black Friday is taking place on Friday 29th November 2024, and Cyber Monday is taking place the following Monday, on Monday 2nd December.
How do you know if something is a good deal?
Allow us to let you into our deals spotting tips and tricks. The RadioTimes.com team uses the free Amazon price tracker, camelcamelcamel, to monitor product prices on Amazon, and help us decide when to strike.
Some other top tips for spotting a good deal include ones that will keep you safe when shopping online. Be sure to shop at a reputable site and one that you recognise, to never give out your personal information — Amazon, for example, will never reach out to you and ask for personal information such as your bank details — and remember, that if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Finally, if you're browsing the RadioTimes.com for deals, we will tell you if something is a great offer! As we mentioned earlier, the Technology team has plenty of deals articles which we update monthly, so we know if a product price is the best it's been all year, or if it's worth waiting before you splash the cash.
Happy sales shopping!
For more of RadioTimes.com deals guides which we update monthly, read our BT Sport offers, Sky Sports offers, Audible deals, Kindle deals, and LEGO deals articles.
