Furniture retailers have started cutting prices nearly three weeks before Black Friday, with more than 115,000 products already reduced by 70 per cent or more. The figures come from uFurnish.com, the UK furniture finder website that features products from retailers including John Lewis and Dunelm as well as independent brands.
Of the 117 retailers on Monday, November 9, on uFurnish.com, 93 are running sales, and almost 560,000 individual products have been discounted, up by around 200,000 on the week before.
Deep Discounts Early
According to uFurnish.com, the number of products at 70 per cent off or more normally sits at around 2,000 to 3,000. As of today it stands at 115,321, from 41 retailers, and Black Friday doesn't arrive until November 27.
Interiors expert Deirdre Mc Gettrick, who founded uFurnish.com, said: "Black Friday has turned into Black November for furniture. Retailers launch their offers at the start of the month and add more every week, building to the biggest reductions in the final week before Black Friday and Cyber Monday."
"What's different this year is how deep the discounts are this early, and that tells you how hard retailers are having to work to get people spending."
Market-Wide Tracking
Because uFurnish.com tracks prices across retailers ranging from John Lewis, Dunelm and Wayfair to independents such as Cox & Cox and Oka, it can see discounting across the whole market rather than one store at a time. It expects the number of discounted products on the site to approach one million by Black Friday.
Deirdre said: "People have less disposable income than they did a year ago, and retailers have stock they need to shift. Fewer people are moving house, so rather than spending £100,000 on a renovation, they're making over one room with a new sofa, cushions and curtains for a few thousand pounds. Retailers know that, and they're going hard to win that spend before Christmas."
The early starters range from high street giants to mattress brands. On uFurnish's Black Friday page, B&Q is advertising up to 70 per cent off, Argos, Dunelm, Sofa Club, Homebase, Wilko and QVC up to 50 per cent, and Debenhams up to 75 per cent.
Mattress makers Simba and Emma are offering up to 33 and 40 per cent off, and desk brand FlexiSpot up to 80 per cent.
Big Savings on Bulky Items
Some of the biggest cash savings are on bulky furniture. A Grayson power recliner three-seater sofa at B&Q is down from £1,485 to £602.01; an Antigua sideboard from Sterling Home has dropped from £1,199 to £349; and a double Millbrook Wool Luxury 4000 pocket mattress from Mattress Online is £603, down from £1,276.
Premium names are cutting prices too. A John Lewis Farah ikat wool-rich rug is half price, from £200; a hand-knotted wool rug from FableRoom is down from £1,522 to £603; and a G Plan Kingsbury two-seater leather recliner sofa at Downtown is £3,009, down from £5,022.
The very deepest discounts are on small homeware, with some cushion covers, bath mats and door stops cut by more than 70 per cent to around £2. But not every price tag is what it seems. Deirdre, whose site sees how the same products are priced across the market, warned that some retailers raise prices in the weeks before a sale so the reduction looks bigger than it really is.
She said: "Some retailers push the price of an item up for a few weeks, then bring it back down to roughly where it started and call that the discount. If the 'was' price looks unusually high, check what it was selling for a month ago. The saving can look huge when you're really just paying the normal price."
Timing and January Sales
Timing matters too. uFurnish's data shows furniture shopping drops off sharply after Cyber Monday on 30 November and doesn't pick up again until Boxing Day, when the January sales begin. Most retailers aim to clear their autumn and winter stock by the end of January.
Deirdre said: "There's a perception that Black Friday has the best furniture deals, but the deepest discounts still tend to come in the January sales, when retailers have to clear their stock. The catch is that the piece you want may have sold out by then. If you want a sofa for Christmas, look at it now, because many sofas are made to order and can take around six weeks to arrive, so retailers set firm cut-off dates."
