It is a phenomenon that has been rocking American for years and has, especially over the last two or three years, begun to creep into the United Kingdom as well. The phenomenon in question is Black Friday. The Friday after Thanksgiving (a holiday we do not even celebrate on these shores) is typically marked as the day that retailers hit “the black” allowing any further sales in the year to be one hundred per cent pure profit. Of course it is nothing like that anymore; with companies struggling all year and still having Black Friday sales, while others are in the black all year round.

For the savvy shopper it is an opportunity to show up friends and family by avoiding crazy queues in supermarkets while people trample each other and fight over the last LCD television. Instead you can use software to automatically buy products once they hit a certain price, or to alert you when stock becomes readily available for a product that you have been waiting for. Whatever you do; don’t set foot in a shop.