Black Friday sales expected to fall for the first time in five years with the impact of inflation

With the effect of inflation, Black Friday sales in Brazil should fall in 2021, for the first time in five years, according to a projection released on Wednesday (17) by CNC (National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism) .

According to the estimate, the date should move R$ 3.93 billion this year. It is the highest nominal level of sales (not taking into account inflation) since the event was incorporated into national retail in 2010.

However, due to escalating prices, the scenario is different. In real terms, with the discount for inflation, the projected volume for 2021 represents a drop of 6.5% compared to last year, the first retraction since 2016. In other words, in five years.

“The current pace of annualized inflation — at +10.67%, according to the IPCA accumulated in the 12 months ending in October — constitutes an obstacle to the expansion of sales volume, even in a context of acceleration of digital consumption after the pandemic of Covid-19”, states CNC.

For the entity, the high prices should also make more aggressive discounts difficult, one of the promises of Black Friday every year. In 2021, the event is scheduled for the next 26th.

“The CNC collected daily more than 2,000 prices of items grouped in 34 product lines over the last 40 days, ended on November 16”, says the entity.

“Of these, 26% showed price reduction trends in the period – a percentage that contrasts with the 46% observed on the eve of Black Friday of 2020, when the inflation rate was less than half of the current (+3.9%)” , complete.

The date is the fifth most important for retail, behind Christmas, Mother’s Day, Children’s Day and Father’s Day.

CNC states that, this year, the furniture and household appliances (BRL 1.105 billion) and electronics and housewares (BRL 906.57 million) segments should account for more than half (51.2%) of the expected financial turnover .

The hypermarkets and supermarkets (R$ 779.09 million) and apparel, footwear and accessories (R$ 693.12 million) segments should also stand out.