Black Friday 2021 — all discounts in one place!

Black Week: time for sales lovers

For years, Black Friday has attracted the interest of many South Africans. 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 South Africans toward Black Friday, where in South Africa 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?

86 per cent of South Africans 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. 66 per cent of shoppers decided to shop on Friday, but as much as 29 per cent did their shopping from Monday to Thursday, and 32 per cent enjoyed special offers over the weekend after Black Friday (Saturday and Sunday).

The vast majority of shoppers (67 per cent) was satisfied or rather satisfied with their Black Friday experiences. However, 29 per cent of respondents were rather unsatisfied, and the remaining 4 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 (52 per cent of answers) was that they simply missed the event. 21 per cent of people taking part in the survey said that the products that they wanted to buy were not on sale. The remaining pointed out that discounts were too low (16 per cent) or they did not know what Black Friday is at all (11 per cent).

Provinces where people love promotions

Based on online search queries, we found the provinces where the interest in Black Friday sales increased the most from 2016 to 2019. Free State took the first place — in this province, the interest in discounts increased as much as 50 per cent. Limpopo placed second with a 49 per cent increase. Eastern Cape, where the increase of interest amounted to 22 per cent, completed the podium.

The least interested in Black Friday sales are citizens of Northern Cape where the number of search queries connected to Black Friday dropped by 33 per cent.

Big bucks

Statistically, South Africans spend R2,203 on Black Friday. It is worth noting that men spend a lot more money than women during Black Friday sales: R2,518 vs R1,713. 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 (35 per cent). Half is planning to spend more and 15 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 more products this year (75 per cent indicated such reason). 29 per cent is planning to buy some expensive item this year, such as electronics or home appliances, and 4 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, 13 per cent said that their smaller budget is caused by job loss. 51 per cent is going to buy cheaper products this year, and 48 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 (38 per cent) and home appliances (23 per cent) were the second and third top categories.

Groceries ranked fourth (22 per cent), followed by shoes (20 per cent). Sports items were less popular during Black Week (13 per cent), similarly to cosmetics or jewellery (12 and 11 per cent respectively). Child care products and gifts rounded out the top ten categories with 10 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 2020 in other parts of the world