Majority of consumers don’t believe in Black Friday, says survey

Brazilian consumers are scalded with Black Friday. The most important event of the year for retailers, which takes place this Friday (25), should attract less people interested in buying than last year. The main reason is skepticism about promotions.

This is what a survey by the Brazilian complaints website, Reclame Aqui, points out, with 13,700 users in its base. The survey, carried out between November 11th and 13th, reveals that 56.7% do not intend to buy on Black Friday (against 53% of last year’s survey).

For this public, the lack of “real” promotions is the main reason (49% response), but debt and lack of money also count (26.3%). Last year, those who did not buy had the same reasons (53.2% did not see the promotion and 24.6% had no money).

“Half of consumers are very skeptical about Black Friday sales,” he told Sheet Eduardo Neves, president of Reclame Aqui. “Even so, a part of this public that says they are not going to buy ends up spending something, even if it is on lesser value items, such as clothes and food.”

The reason for so much distrust has its reason: in 2021, according to Neves, it was the Black Friday “that never existed”, due to the retailer’s inability to generate promotion. “There was even some discount, interest-free installments, but what we saw were consumers doing supermarket”, he says.

THE Sheet contacted nine large retailers in the consumer electronics and home appliance segments (Magazine Luiza, Casas Bahia and Americanas), supermarkets (Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar), fashion (C&A and Renner) and e-commerce (Mercado Livre and Amazon).

The report asked companies to indicate five items, which may have been the target of strong negotiation with suppliers, which presented a significant drop over the price practiced in the second half. Of the nine, only C&A indicated a list, selecting ten products.

Items range from jeans (R$149.99 to R$79.99), twill bermuda shorts (R$69.90 to R$29.90), to children’s blouses (R$ 39.99 for R$12.99), in addition to makeup and shoes.

Carrefour and Magazine Luiza said they were unable to find a spokesperson to indicate the products. Renner and Casas Bahia declined to participate. Americanas and Mercado Livre only said that they have thousands of products on sale, whose discounts can reach 80% (according to Mercado Livre, the site does not indicate specific offers or products). Pão de Açúcar and Amazon did not respond until the publication of this text.

Among those who are going to buy, 60% intend to spend more than R$ 1,000

According to Eduardo Neves, last year, retailers made the mistake of not offering promotions in fact and consumers, with less money in their pockets, opted for supermarket items. “But this year, among the 47% willing to buy, the disbursement will be greater”, says the Executive.

According to this year’s survey, the largest share (30%) intends to spend between R$ 1,000 and R$ 2,000. Last year, 16.6% (the largest share of respondents) intended to spend this amount. “Last year, those who intended to spend up to R$ 1,000 totaled 53%. This year, they are 40%, that is, 60% will spend more than R$ 1,000”, says the executive.

Last year, with inflation on the rise, consumers were afraid of getting into debt, he says. “Whenever there are increases in basic bills, such as water and electricity, or in basic basket items, Brazilians control spending”, says the executive.

“But this year the consumer is a little more optimistic and signals an average ticket a little higher”, he says. Among the most desired items this Black Friday are electronics (17.4%), clothing and footwear (16.9%) and small appliances (12.3%) – all showing an increase in relation to the demand for 2021.

Appliances (8.4%), smartphones (7.9%) and furniture and decoration (7%) followed, but registering a decrease in purchase intention year on year.

Regarding shopping sites, the survey identified an increase in demand for price comparison sites this year compared to 2021 (20.6% compared to 13.5%). Buying directly on the brands’ website (36.2%) is the main option, but it fell compared to last year (41%). Purchase intention in physical stores increased: from 8.9% in 2021 to 11.2% this year.