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I agree that typical Black Friday sales are not enough to entice me to buy something that I really don't need, or something that I haven't researched in advance. Just not good enough to trigger that impulse purchase.
But for something I already need (or want), why not get a few dollars off if it goes on sale?
I wanted a bread maker. $129. $129. $129. For months. Then $89 on Black Friday. I also wanted a portable tire inflator. $89. $89. $89. Then $49 on Black Friday. I bought both of these in a heartbeat. I had heavily researched both for the months that I had been looking at them - that's my nature. I never truly make an impulse buy. I pretty much always know what I'm buying and if it's a good functioning, reliable thing - regardless of it being on sale or not.
I was also considering a car battery charger. I already have one, but kind of wanted an upgraded one for some reason. $99. $99. $99. Then $79 on Black Friday. I still have not bought this yet. And I probably won't. We'll see. I'm pretty sure the price will hold through Cyber Monday. But the thing is, I don't really need it. 20% off is a decent enough sale. But not enough to trigger an impulse purchase (my case is not quite impulse buy - I have researched the thing for months - my case is that I don't truly need it).
My secondary computer monitor started flickering and powering itself down on Thanksgiving. It's old. And an unheard of brand. Hannspree??? So I immediately started looking for Black Friday sales for cheap monitors. Since it's secondary, vertical orientation, seldom used except for tall spreadsheets I don't need a high end monitor. Pretty much anything remotely reliable will do in that role. The cheapest 24" monitor (the largest I can fit in my vertical orientation space) I could find was on sale from Dell, for $69. That may have only been $20 or $30 off of the typical price for a cheapie 24", but that's still money in my pocket. Thanks Black Friday! I'll take the discount without complaining. I certainly would never have made an impulse purchase of this super cheap monitor had I just randomly stumbled across it at this Black Friday price without already having an immediate need for it. But being my nature, I did research it against other brands cheapies before buying. I found that there is no significant difference in brands - who's names you have heard of - when you're looking at bottom of the food chain monitors (once you move higher end, yes, there can be significant differences depending on your use).
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