Black Friday deals peak days before official date, Focus Online says
The official date for Black Friday falls on November 27, but the discount season opens as early as October, according to new figures published by FOCUS online. While major retailers launch early promotional events weeks in advance, data shows that waiting for the actual Friday often means missing the peak number of daily deals.
Amazon and MediaMarkt Open the Season in October
Amazon opened the pre-Christmas discount battle on October 6 and 7 with its Prime Deal Days, featuring more than a million offers spanning electronics, fashion, and household appliances, FOCUS online reported. MediaMarkt launched promotional campaigns early in October.
This early activity stretches a single calendar date into a month-long retail season. Rather than limiting promotions to late November, retailers introduce Early-Black-Friday specials and themed weeks as early as October to secure customer spending.
Consumer behavior reflects this shift. PwC survey data from 2025 indicates that nearly half of all shoppers begin planning their purchases early, with 18 percent mapping out their acquisitions by October or earlier.
Peak Deals Hit Days Before the Official Date
Data from the bargain platform mydealz, provided to FOCUS online, shows that the highest daily volume of new offers during the 2025 shopping phase occurred on November 20—eight days before the official Black Friday. Users published 5,638 new offers on that single day, compared to 5,099 on the actual Black Friday of November 28.
Regular days at the start of November see between 1,300 and 1,800 daily offers. Community interaction followed a similar trajectory, peaking at 26,600 comments on November 20 against a daily average of roughly 14,000.
Alex Kalcin, marketing chief at Atolls, the company behind mydealz, noted that the event has evolved far beyond a single calendar day.
Price Comparisons Reveal Limited Savings on the Actual Day
High offer volumes do not guarantee that prices are at their lowest on the main event day. An evaluation by Idealo covering more than 10,000 products across approximately 1,800 online shops during the 2024 season found that while 73 percent of studied products were cheaper on Black Friday than in October, the average savings amounted to just seven percent.
Furthermore, 59 percent of those products recorded a lower price on a completely different day in November. Focusing exclusively on the final Friday of the month restricts potential savings.
Misleading discount claims have also drawn regulatory scrutiny. A ruling by the Cologne Higher Regional Court in February 2026 addressed a retailer advertising a 20 percent discount during a Black Friday event, where the actual price advantage compared to the lowest price of the preceding 30 days was only about six percent.
Skeptical Users Flag Steep Discounts on Mydealz
As advertised discounts grow larger, consumer skepticism increases. On mydealz, roughly 55,000 offers received predominantly negative community evaluations in 2025 as users flagged questionable pricing structures. Steep discounts between 50 and 70 percent drew skeptical reviews in about 31 percent of examined cases.
Experienced shoppers increasingly pair retail markdowns with voucher codes, cashback options, and secondary discounts. Mentions of combinable offers on mydealz rose by 89 percent between 2022 and 2025, while high-value deals priced at 1,200 euros and above grew by 169 percent over the same period.
Consumer protection agencies advise shoppers to track price histories over multiple weeks using independent comparison tools rather than relying on manufacturers’ recommended retail prices or prominent countdown timers.