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Black Week: time for sales lovers

For years, Black Friday has attracted the interest of many Emiratis. This shopping holiday, which comes from the United States, draws in crowds of consumers who are making the best of the discounts offered to them. That is why, seeing the interest of clients, stores decided to expand their offers for the entire week, not just Black Friday. Thanks to that, discount lovers can enjoy rebates from the Monday preceding Black Friday until Cyber Monday.

Picodi.com analytics decided to check the attitude of Emiratis toward Black Friday, where in the UAE the interest in Black Week sales is the biggest, as well as how much money consumers spend and what they buy.

To buy or not to buy?

Almost three-quarters of Emiratis (71 per cent) took part in last year’s Black Friday sales. Although this number may surprise, in reality not all consumers participated in the sale on Black Friday itself. 60 per cent of shoppers decided to shop on Friday, but as much as 38 per cent did their shopping from Monday to Thursday, and 31 per cent enjoyed special offers over the weekend after Black Friday (Saturday and Sunday).

The vast majority of shoppers (83 per cent) was satisfied or rather satisfied with their Black Friday experiences. 15 per cent of respondents were rather unsatisfied, and the remaining 2 per cent was unsatisfied with their Black Friday shopping.

Among the people who did not take part in last year’s Black Friday, the most common reason (46 per cent of answers) was that they simply missed the event. 35 per cent of people taking part in the survey said that they did not know what Black Friday is at all. The remaining pointed out that the discounts were too low or that the products that they wanted to buy were not on sale (11 and 8 per cent respectively).

Cities where people love promotions

Based on online search queries, we found the cities where the interest in Black Friday sales increased the most from 2016 to 2019. Sharjah and Dubai tied for the first place — in both these cities, the interest in discounts increased as much as 83 per cent. Abu Dhabi, where the increase of interest amounted to 49 per cent, completed the podium.

Less interested in Black Friday sales are citizens of Ajman (increase by 46 per cent) and Ras Al-Khaimah (39 per cent).

Big bucks

Statistically, Emiratis spend 740 AED on Black Friday. It is worth noting that men spend a lot more money than women during Black Friday sales: 840 vs 610 AED. It doesn’t necessarily mean that men buy more than women — they could just buy more expensive items.

When asked about Black Friday spending, many respondents claimed they are going to spend a similar amount as last year (18 per cent). More than half is planning to spend more (57 per cent), and 22 per cent is going to spend less money than last Black Friday.

People who are going to spend more usually justified their answers by the fact that they are going to buy some expensive item this year, such as electronics or home appliances (63 per cent indicated such reason). 33 per cent is planning to simply buy more products, and 10 per cent are going to buy more luxurious products than last year. On the other hand, among the people who are planning to spend less, 38 per cent said that their smaller budget is caused by job loss. 15 per cent is not planning expensive shopping this year, and 54 per cent prefers to set money aside for a rainy day.

Selling like hotcakes

Invariably, electronics are among the products which rule during Black Friday sales. It is the most frequently chosen category of products — 55 per cent of consumers will buy electronics. Clothes (27 per cent) and home appliances (23 per cent) were the second and third top categories.

Food on delivery ranked fourth (22 per cent), followed by shoes (17 per cent). Groceries were less popular during Black Week (15 per cent), similarly to sports items or jewellery (13 and 10 per cent respectively). Cosmetics and books rounded out the top ten categories with 8 per cent each.

Methodology

All statistical data comes from Picodi.com, a global discount platform operating since 2010. The survey conducted in September 2020 was also used in the report.

Public Use

Would you like to share information about Black Week with your readers? All the data and infographics presented in this report can be freely used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage.

Learn about Black Friday 2025 in other parts of the world