This week, a TikTok video went viral, where a shopper showed Home Depot placing “Black Friday deal” stickers over original prices… with the exact same price underneath. The video quickly gained traction, racking up over half a million views. And it’s no wonder: the shopper carefully peels the sticker of a “holiday sale” items, only to find out that their original price was exactly the same, $24.97.
Misleading discounts during Black Friday
Home Depot has not provided any comments to the media regarding the claims or whether it misleads customers with its Black Friday promotions. However, if the allegations are accurate, retail analysts suggest it could be seen as false advertising—an especially risky move for businesses right now, given that practices like shrinkflation and other pricing strategies have already eroded consumer trust.
“Big retailers put a lot of effort into building relationships with their customers, and trust is a critical part of that,” said Matt Voda, CEO of the marketing software company OptiMine, in a recent interview. “Building trust takes time, but it can be lost in an instant with tactics like these.”
This isn’t the first time shoppers have started to doubt whether Black Friday deals are actually legitimate. In 2023, Target also faced criticism in a video that appeared to show a TV priced as part of a sale for $649.99, but the tag underneath displayed the same price.
“Retailers have been playing pricing games for decades,” said Luke Kachersky, a marketing professor at the Fordham Gabelli School of Business. “For instance, they’ll show something like ‘regularly $X, now $Y,’ even though it’s hard to believe the item was ever really sold (or bought) at the so-called ‘regular’ price.”
At the time, a Target spokesperson explained that the TVs “had been discounted prior to Black Friday as part of our early Black Friday promotions”. However, few believed the excuse, and the red-and-white retailer reputation eroded.
That said, Kachersky noted that proving false advertising is notoriously challenging. “Sure, the price might be the same, but the retailer could simply claim they rebranded or renamed their regular pricing for the season,” Kachersky explained. “While it might hold up in court, it doesn’t fool regular clients. Shoppers are definitely going to feel misled.”
Black Friday isn’t the same anymore
Whether or not retailers are being accused of fake discounts, retail experts say there’s a noticeable decline in the quality of Black Friday deals compared to what shoppers used to see.
“Those big ‘doorbuster’ deals we used to see are mostly a thing of the past, and discounts today tend to be smaller but more strategic,” Voda explained. He attributed this shift to advanced analytics, which help retailers identify the “sweet spot” between generating demand and maximizing profits. This data guides them on when to lower prices throughout the year.
Andrea Woroch, a budgeting and personal finance expert, also shared that the biggest difference between today’s Black Friday sales and those from a decade ago is the narrower range of discounts available. While she acknowledged there are some “solid deals” on specific items—like 52% off a Nespresso maker at Bloomingdale’s or 50% off Beats wireless headphones at Target —she cautioned that not everything promoted as a Black Friday sale is actually a bargain.
“You have to remember that not everything is a good deal, and it’s important not to get swept up in the buying frenzy these sales events can create,” Woroch advised. The best you can do is do your own homework: stick to your shopping list, compare prices at different stores, and look for extra savings by stacking coupon codes. And most important of all: track when the price actually drops!
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