Amazon’s “Prime Day” ran from the 13th to the 14th of October this year in 2020 with exclusive deals for their Prime members. They even promised that “throughout Prime Day, members can shop with confidence that they’re getting low prices that won’t be beaten this year”.
Whilst one might imply from this statement that Amazon’s Prime Day offers will beat any Black Friday offers we find in November, we took a closer look at the types of items they reduced to find that whilst the price reductions were decent, there was far less on offer than what we see in November, especially on more popular items. Let’s take a closer look.
KitchenAid Mixers
Take the ever-popular KitchenAid mixer, for example. This is a regularly featured item in the Black Friday sales and the price is always notoriously slashed in the November sales. Last year, we saw 50% off the item. In Amazon’s Prime Day deal, however, the mixer was reduced by 40% and was only available in one colour – Aqua Sky. I’m not sure about you, but I think there’s a limited number of people who will want a light blue KitchenAid mixer.
In November, you’re more likely to find them in a wider range of colours, including the popular red or standard silver. Rival, Kenwood, always features in the Black Friday sales too with 54% off their mixers last year. This brand only had one reduction on Prime Day for 29% their Prospero Plus stand mixer.
Televisions
Televisions are heavily reduced in the Black Friday sales, however, we just didn’t see many brands on offer in Amazon’s Prime Day and certainly nothing in terms of the popular Samsung. The absolute best Prime deal was a TCL 55C715K 55 Inch QLED Television, 4K Ultra HD HDR 10+ Dolby Vision, Smart Android TV for £499, which was reduced by 17%.
Other televisions also featured in the sales but were only around 10% off and we did not notice any Samsung TVs, which Amazon really pushed in their 2019 sales with impressive discounts on the latest models. In last year’s Black Friday sale, TVs were reduced by an average of 36% with a top saving of 60% off.
Experiences
We include experiences because during Black Friday these types of deals are always heavily reduced. We’re talking up to 80-90% in some cases. But on Prime Day there was a standard 25% off experiences across the board, including Virgin Experiences. We’re not saying that’s not a great deal, but it’s not exactly a steal that is comparable to what we see on Black Friday. Or, maybe it’s just because “experiences” aren’t really a viable gift option in 2020 and these types of companies might be struggling.
Popular Brands Like Dyson, Sonos & Le Creuset
Dyson
Any dog lover or parent loves a Dyson – or needs a Dyson, rather! And this is something we will always see reduced on Black Friday with 50% off the V6 Animal Cordless in last year’s sale. During Prime Day, there were no deals on Dyson whatsoever. A bit disappointing, really. There was, however, 44% off the popular Shark steam cleaner, which we thought was pretty good and 31% off their vacuum cleaner. We think we can do better in November though. But, clearly, Amazon won’t be the place for that one as they would not reduce it any further in keeping with the Prime Day promise.
Sonos
Sonos is one of those brands where you’ll rarely find a huge saving even on Black Friday owing to the fact that the brand is so good and they don’t need to reduce it to get people to buy it! But we normally see something in the region of 13-18% off in November on speakers or soundbars. But again, Prime Day did not incorporate any Sonos products.
Le Creuset
In terms of Le Creuset, Amazon always reduces these in the Black Friday sale, so we were surprised to only find two Le Creuset items in the Prime Day sales – a rather random oblong cast iron skillet marked down by 33% and a cast iron casserole dish marked down by 30%. Normally we’d expect a much wider range of products on offer in the Black Friday sales with something more like 40% off a good selection of their famous colourful dishware range, as well as pots and pans.
Big Appliances
Black Friday really is the time to upgrade your big appliances and whilst Amazon might not be our go-to choice for where to buy these on Black Friday, we were disheartened to see that cookers and dishwashers didn’t feature at all in the Prime Day deals.
There was one Samsung washer, as well as a Sharp washer, each marked down by 20% in the 2020 Prime Day sales, but generally, they only reduced lesser-known brands by up to 30% during Prime Day. During Black Friday, we expect to save something in the region of 35-40% with a Samsung washer slashed by 42% during last year’s Black Friday sales.
Smart Phones
In the 2020 Prime Day sales, you might have been able to save 40% off a smart phone but the brand was a Blackview, so… has anyone even heard of this? We wouldn’t say that’s exactly a steal when the only products on sale we’ve never seen before. Sorry, Amazon! During Black Friday, we’d expect to save an average of about 50% off these lesser known brands with top deals more like 70%. Quite the difference!
We did see £20 off an iPhone 8 during Prime Day, which is probably all you’re going to save on Black Friday too. Apple don’t exactly like to give big discounts on any of their items, including older models.
Beauty Electricals like Toothbrushes & ghd Straighteners
Electric Toothbrushes
Oral B seemed to be the top Prime Day winner this year with 75% off the Oral B Smart 6000N and other impressive discounts on other Oral B products. Normally we something like 50-70% off these types of items during Black Friday (and, if we’re honest, throughout most of the year – these things are always on sale – please never pay full price for an electric toothbrush!). So, yes, 75% off this was pretty decent. We got the impression they were maybe a sponsor of the Prime event (what with all the adverts)? During Black Friday, you’re sure to find these toothbrushes on sale again (maybe more like 70% off), as well as lots of other brands like Philips Sonicare.
ghd
In terms of ghd, we only ever upgrade our straighteners during Black Friday. Last year, Amazon reduced their classic straightener by 18%, which was the best deal we found. This is pretty standard for ghd, as the brand is well established and doesn’t need to do heavy price cuts to make the sales. Whilst we didn’t see the same straightener on sale during the Prime Day, they did reduce their ghd Ultimate Styling Gift Set by 34%, which includes the straightener, the blow dryer, a brush and styling spray. So, very useful if you need all of those things, but less so if you just want the straighteners.
Other Beauty Eletricals
One other beauty electrical that always makes a grand appearance in Black Friday is the Philips Lumea Prestige IPL Cordless Hair Removal Device. During Prime Day, it was reduced by 37%, however, during Black Friday we saw the same product reduced even further on Amazon in 2018 by over 50%. But perhaps they will discount a slightly different model on Black Friday and we expect it will make our Top Deals page (reduced by 50% or greater), as it does every year.
Amazon Products
One thing that was actually a better saving on Prime Day than on Black Friday was Amazon’s own products. We found the following price reductions: Kindle (reduced by 36%), the all-new Fire HD 8 Tablet (reduced by 50%), the Echo Show 5 (reduced by 55%), the Echo Show 8 (reduced by 50%) and the Echo Dot (reduced by 62%).
You’ll still find these reduced during Black Friday, however, instead of 36% off a Kindle you may only get something like 30% off. So, don’t sweat too much if you missed out. Amazon will still have the best deals on these items, but perhaps think about buying any of your Amazon products during Prime Day in future. In the spirit of Prime Day, eh!
Prime Day Conclusions
Overall, Prime Day had some great discounts, but we find that the offerings on Black Friday are far greater – as in, there’s a much better selection on more popular, well-known brands with more impressive discounts. Because Amazon made the grand claim that you won’t save more at any other point of the year, we all just assumed that meant that Prime Day trumps Black Friday. But, after taking a closer look at what was actually on offer, we find that’s not the case at all.
It probably just means that anything they reduced on Prime Day won’t go any lower on Black Friday, but to be honest, you didn’t miss much, unless of course you were after an Amazon product like a Kindle or an Echo Dot. But, have no fear, because you’ll still find those items discounted on Black Friday – perhaps for a few quid more than Prime Day, but still great deals nonetheless.