Inflation Black Friday has dropped up to 5% in internet sales

The Black Friday of 2021 on the internet was the face of inflation: the search for supermarket and pantry items soared, and store sales fell by up to 5% due to the price hike.

For e-commerce, the date is the most important in the retail calendar. It is on the internet that most sales happen.

According to Neotrust, which captures transactions from large networks and covers more than 80% of the digital market, this year’s turnover was BRL 5.4 billion, a nominal increase of 5.8% compared to 2020.

NielsenIQ|Ebit already calculated R$ 4.2 billion in sales, up 5%. Both released the results, referring to Thursday (25) and Friday (26), this Saturday (27).

Considering inflation, which registers the biggest increase in 12 months since the beginning of 2016, sales fell 4.4% and 5.1%, respectively. The IPCA (Broad National Consumer Price Index) varied 10.67% in the 12 months ended in October.

In 48 hours, there were 7.6 million orders, 0.5% below the 2020 performance, according to Neotrust. The average purchase ticket (value) was R$ 711, 6.4% higher than in the same period last year.

Nielsen also registered a drop in orders (9%) and an increase in the average ticket (from 16% to R$753).

“In general, Black Friday targets electronics, appliances, and what rose in 2021 inflation was fuel, electricity and food, so sales were lower than inflation,” says Alex Agostini, chief economist at Austin Rating .

Fashion and accessories was the category with the most orders on the internet, according to Neotrust, followed by beauty, telephony, small appliances and household appliances.

As they are more expensive, cell phones, home appliances and computer items still represent the main slice of digital billing.

The result was within the expectation of consultants. One behavior that drew attention was the search for food and drink, a segment that grew by more than 400% compared to 2019.

This is explained by two main factors: ecommerce food starts from a low base (a few years ago, it was not common to purchase supermarket items over the internet) and families sought to supply the pantry with basic items this year, due to budget erosion.

The consumption of electronics, in turn, was anticipated by the pandemic, which demanded new computers and cell phones for teleworking and other online activities.

In the Free Market, which represents around 30% of ecommerce and is not included in Neotrust’s statistics, the food sector has exploded, second only to the home and decoration sector. The highlights of the baskets were condensed milk, chocolate drinks and beers.

The date also moved physical stores that sell basic items, such as cleaning products, hygiene and non-perishable food.