When do appliance prices actually drop?

Ask most people when to buy a washing machine and they'll say Black Friday. They're not wrong, but they're missing half the calendar. Appliance prices in the UK follow a rhythm set by three things: retail sales events, manufacturer range changes, and the retailers' own promotional cycles. Understanding all three is worth more than any single sale.

The sales events

Black Friday (late November) is the largest single discount window and it's genuine on appliances: retailers use white goods as loss leaders because they bring people into the store or the basket. Boxing Day to mid-January is the second window, mostly clearance. The May and August bank holidays bring smaller waves, and the Easter weekend is reliably active for Hughes, AO and Currys.

The range change

This is the one most people miss. Bosch, Samsung, LG and Miele refresh their ranges in spring. The new models arrive in March and April at full price; the outgoing models, which are often nearly identical, are cleared at the same time. A last-year Bosch Series 6 dishwasher in April is frequently cheaper than a this-year Series 4, and it's the better machine.

The same happens with televisions, where the cycle is even sharper: new panels launch in spring, and the previous year's set drops 30 to 40 percent between March and June.

The retailer rotation

Outside events, the big appliance retailers run promotions on rotation. Any given week, some models are discounted and most aren't; the following week the set changes. This is why a daily price feed matters: a machine can drop £80 on a Tuesday with no announcement and be back up by the weekend. If you're not in a hurry, watching a specific model and buying when it dips is the most reliable strategy there is. That's what the watch button on our deal pages is for.

The exceptions

Premium brands — Miele, Fisher & Paykel, Sub-Zero — rarely discount and control their pricing tightly. If you want one, buy when you need it; waiting won't help much. Conversely, own-brand and budget ranges (Beko, Hisense, Logik) are cheap year-round and the sales barely move them.

The short version

Need it now: buy on a bank holiday weekend. Can wait a month: watch the model and buy on the dip. Can wait until spring: buy the outgoing model in April. Want a television: never buy one between September and February.