Black Friday 2018: online, record in participation and fashion as number one category

Black Friday is back. Consumers are preparing in advance for the event, and they are already saving a budget dedicated only for shopping, according to the Black Friday 2018 report elaborated by the consultant McKinsey. The document states that this year, the sales day will be defined by huge participation, most purchases being done online and clothing items being the top product category.

This year, Black Friday will receive the highest consumer participation of the last year, report says. The study has been carried out through a consumer survey to people from Britain, the United States, Germany and Canada. In fact, more than 70% of people consulted has in mind doing some shopping during that day in order to get Christmas presents profiting from the discounts.

Concretely, last year in the United States more than 47% of consumers participated in Black Friday, contrasting with 38% in 2015. The United Kingdom is the region where the number of clients has increased the most during this sales day: from 19% of participants two years ago, to 54% in 2017.

Last year in the United States 47% of consumers participated in Black Friday

At the same time, consumers admit that their purchases during Black Friday are usually not planned ahead. Even though, on the other hand, the people asked in the study who seek and select products before purchasing them, prefer to do it through the web instead of physical stores due to the commodity and ease that web provides.

Regarding the actual purchase, Europeans are more willing to spend through online channel. In fact, according to the results gathered by the survey for the elaboration of the report, most consumers have the intention to buy through the company’s e-commerce platforms. Moreover, the percentage of people surveyed who will only buy through physical stores stands at 4%.

An average of 54% of the people surveyed for the report are thinking about buying more products through the web during the next Black Friday than those in prior years. The pleaded reasons of consumers are mainly convenience and simplicity.  Furthermore, the purchase through mobile devices is one of the most popular options, with 75% of the total study participants in the United States and 61% of German purchasers.

Clothing is the top product category, followed by electronics

This year, clothing has been settled as the first product category in the purchasing lists of consumers, followed by electronic articles, report says. Movies, books and music occupy the third position in the United States, whereas European consumers opted for perfume products and cosmetics. An average of 54% of the surveyed for the report are planning to purchase more products through the web during the next Black Friday than in previous years.

McKinsey’s report also states that this year consumers have increased their budget for Black Friday. Actually, this day is one of the last chances for retailers to raise their revenue before the end of the year, together with the Christmas campaign. Out of the surveyed in the United States, more than 16% is thinking about spending more than one thousand dollars this year, ahead of the 9% of purchasers who had that same budget last year. In Canada, consumers who count with that budget occupy 14% of the study participants.

In Europe, however, most of the purchases have an inferior budget to spend during Black Friday. In the United Kingdom, 37% of the surveyed have a maximum of between 200 pounds and 300 pounds to destine for purchases. In Germany, for its part, 21% of surveyed consumers is planning to spend about 200 euros, whereas 14% will spend 300 euro