Is Black Friday a fading holiday-shopping tradition in the digital age? Well, we’ll find out in a few days whether it’s still substantial, but the fact is these deals and discounts are starting to be extended over several days or weeks, so the one-day event of past years is certainly diminishing. And this goes for its holiday brethren Small Business Saturday and even Cyber Monday—it’s just not necessary to shop on those particular days to take advantage of all the deals.
The 2023 Black Friday survey from consumer advocacy and review site PissedConsumer.com indeed suggests that Black Friday has seen better days—its survey of 2970 consumers about their shopping plans and expectations this year reveals that a majority say they don’t intend to shop on Black Friday at all.
“This year’s Black Friday survey gave us some expected responses and some surprises. [One] interesting finding is that single-day holiday shopping events might hold less sway over shoppers,” said Michael Podolsky, CEO of PissedConsumer, in a news release.
“We saw an increase in consumers saying they no longer have a favorite holiday shopping event—such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Small Business Saturday—now 60 percent, up six points from 2022. As many retailers continue to extend ‘Black Friday’ deals for several days to weeks, the overlap of continuous discounts could have an impact on that decline in enthusiasm for single-day sales,” Podolsky added.
But for those who will imbibe, the research reveals where consumers are finding out about discount details
The research reveals that email is the most likely way. Of consumers surveyed, 25.7 percent said they learn about Black Friday deals via email, while another 24.5 percent say they find sales via online ads. Websites are where 24 percent report learning about these offers. Finally, 7.8 percent say they rely on social media platforms for this information. Altogether, 82 percent of consumers learn about Black Friday deals online as opposed to via print ads, from family and friends, and via other means.
“One of the biggest surprises was just how little consumers say they rely on print ads from retailers to learn about Black Friday deals,” said Podolsky. “Once a staple of organizing Black Friday shopping plans, print ads now account for only 4.9 percent of how consumers discover these deals. Instead, shoppers are learning about Black Friday sales mostly via email, online ads, websites, and social media platforms.”
Additional insights from the survey include:
- 67.4 percent of consumers say they don’t plan to shop on Black Friday.
- 41.3 percent of consumers plan to shop only online.
- The product category most consumers intend to purchase on Black Friday is electronics.
- 32.3 percent of consumers expecting to shop on Black Friday say they will spend $100-500.
- Only 6.3 percent of those reporting they won’t shop on Black Friday say inflation is a consideration.
