PriceSpy’s Black Friday report 2020

Black Friday may have originally started in the US, but over the last few years, interest in this sale day has skyrocketed in many other countries around the world, including New Zealand. So, what do Kiwis really think about Black Friday? And how do our buying behaviours differ to other countries, such as Sweden and Great Britain? We’ll be talking about this, and much more in this Black Friday report.

To provide answers to these questions, PriceSpy has commissioned a number of surveys across the seven different countries in which we operate.  We’ve also compared how our own statistics differ between these markets, to uncover more about Black Friday shopping habits.

More information about the surveys and how the comparisons were made can be found at the bottom of this report.

Many are going to shop and this is how much they’ll spend

According to the New Zealand PriceSpy survey that was conducted by 3Gem, half of New Zealanders (50%) said they were ‘quite or very likely’ to shop on Black Friday this year. Compared to all the other markets where PriceSpy has a presence, New Zealand had the highest proportion of Black Friday shoppers (UK at 36%, Sweden at 35%, Finland at 44%, Norway at 44% and France at 37%).

“Black Friday has increased in popularity exponentially across the last few years. To continue growing at this same rate and scale is almost impossible . Instead of the double-digit figures we have seen in previous years, this year we predict growth to be in the single digits . In particular, it will be really interesting to see what kind of impact Covid-19 has on these big sales days, says Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy.

When it comes to how much Kiwis are looking to spend, the survey revealed the average amount New Zealanders plan to spend is $464 . Most (54%) however say they only intend to spend up to $150 or less.

Will Covid-19 affect Black Friday shopping this year?

Even though Covid-19 has affected almost everything we can think of this year, according to the PriceSpy survey, surprisingly, it hasn’t put people off the prospect of shopping this Black Friday. In fact, when asked ‘do you intend to shop this Black Friday,’ the number of people that answered ‘yes’ increased on last year, up marginally three per cent (50 per cent vs 47 per cent).

Whether Kiwis will spend more on Black Friday this year is difficult to predict, but the survey results suggest nine per cent more intend to spend ‘up to $500’ compared to 2019 (68 per cent vs 59 per cent).

The big change, which of course will depend on what Alert Level New Zealand will be, both nationally and regionally on Black Friday, is how we shop.  A third of Kiwis surveyed said they intend to shop online instead of in physical shops on Black Friday this year.  This could, of course change, should we enter another lockdown situation.

Faith in physical shops

There are two main reasons why shoppers want to shop online on Black Friday this year. The first is flexibility, as people can compare price and features of thousands of products quickly and easily by sitting at a screen. The second reason is consumers perceive it to be a safer alternative to shopping in-store, offering reduced risks of being exposed to Covid-19. 

In other countries where PriceSpy operate, such as Sweden for example, where no lockdown was applied, more than one in three Swedes (37 per cent) said they feel ‘quite or very unsafe’ to shop in a physical shop on Black Friday this year.  Whereas in New Zealand, this number was significantly lower, at just 27 per cent 

In comparison to the UK however, where new daily cases of Covid-19 are soaring by the thousands, just 15 per cent said they felt ‘quite or very unsafe’ to shop in-store.

Kiwis expect high discount rates

When it comes to Black Friday discounts, our survey found New Zealanders expect to receive an average price drop of around 32 per cent.  Whereas in France, this number is much higher, at 50 per cent.

When PriceSpy looked at the average price change across the 139,337  products listed on the New Zealand site on Black Friday last year, the average price drop was a rather modest five per cent**. 

More than half (55 per cent ) of the New Zealanders surveyed said they have ‘little or very little’ trust in the discounts being offered by retailers. The Swedes however were much more skeptical, with 72 per cent answering the same.

Boxing Day still remains the cheapest day of the year, but Black Friday is coming in at a close second

Although the total prices don’t drop much on Black Friday, the flash sale day should still be seen as a good one. 

Amongst the products that received a price drop of at least 10 per cent, the average discount applied was almost 20 per cent (19 per cent). 

If we exclude fake offers and products that have increased in price just before Black Friday, then it’s possible to expect discounts to be at least around the 20 per cent mark. PriceSpy’s insights also highlight if you happen to miss out on buying something on Black Friday, you might just get a similar deal shopping in the Boxing Day sales a few weeks later.

“The reason why prices drop more on Black Friday than other sales days is due to supply and demand. The shops lower their prices when they see the greatest potential to sell large volumes of goods, and it’s on Black Friday that the buying interest is one of the greatest, says Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy.

This is what Kiwis want to buy

According to our survey, Kiwis mainly want to purchase gadgets and electronics (33%) on Black Friday. Other popular shopping categories include fashion (27%, home and garden (25%) and toys children and baby (13%).

The graph below is based on our survey insights and shows the products and categories that Kiwis  were most interested in buying on Black Friday 2019.

For questions about statistics or statements, contact [email protected].

About the survey

To compare what Kiwis think about Black Friday compared to other nationalities, PriceSpy conducted surveys across the seven countries we operate in. A total of 9,166 respondents were asked, according to the following distribution:

• Sweden: Kantar Sifo, 3,158 respondents aged 18-79. Implementation period 12 - 20 October 2020.
• Norway: Opinion, 500 respondents 18-75 years. Implementation period 19 - 25 October 2020.
• Denmark: Yougov, 1,000 respondents 18+ years. Implementation period 9 - 12 October 2020.
• UK: Censuswide, 2,007 respondents aged 16+. Implementation period 9 - 12 October 2020.
• Finland: Bilendi, 1,000 respondents, 18-75 years. Implementation period 14 - 18 October 2020.
• New Zealand: 500 respondents 18+ years. Implementation period 14 - 20 October 2020.
• France: YouGov, 1001 respondents 18+ years. Implementation period 30 September - 2 October 2020.

** The comparison is based on the percentage price change of 118,355 products. We compared prices on 29th November, 2019 with prices on 1st November, 2019. In the comparison, we have weighted popular products (based on the number of clicks out from PriceSpy to shop) higher than unpopular products.