Now that the dust has settled and we’ve oohed and aahed at the banks’ reports on the millions spent over the Black Friday period, we asked shoppers what they thought of the period, and whether the offers met their expectations.

Meh

Although more than half of those in our pre-Black Friday who planned to shop Black Friday deals were ‘five out of five YIPPEE!!’ excited about Black Friday coming up, barely more than a third in our post-festivities survey said they were blown away by the special offers. Middle- and high-income respondents were the least impressed.

And even though the barrage of Black Friday specials began in early November, the vast majority of shoppers (87%) only shopped around the actual Black Friday and the Black Friday weekend. One in four said they picked up a few special offers in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, but Cyber Monday really doesn’t seem to be a ‘thing’, with only 12% of shoppers participating.

Bricks over clicks

Our survey was an online one, i.e. all our respondents were tech-savvy with no technological barriers to online shopping. Even so, the overall preference was still for shopping in physical stores, even when it comes to Black Friday, with 55% saying they planned to do all or most of their Black Friday shopping in physical stores. When it came down to it, 69% ended up doing so.

Spendy Wendys

58% of shoppers say they spent between R1,000 and R5,000, with a further 26% spending between R5,000 and R10,000.

Overall, our shoppers were pretty evenly split into those who spent less than they planned, more than they planned, and almost exactly what they planned.

18- to 24-year-olds, middle-income shoppers, those who splashed out on fashion and unplanned purchases, and those who shopped for special offers from early November were the most likely to overspend.

Strategic shopping

46% of shoppers said they only made planned purchases, while another 46% said it was a combination of planned and impulse purchases. The remaining 8% said they were all about the impulse purchases, and this number was bumped upwards by 18- to 24-year-olds and low-income shoppers, among whom close to one in six said they only made unplanned purchases.

Back to basics

As shoppers predicted, ‘groceries’ was the most widely shopped category. In our pre-Black Friday survey, more 18- to 24-year-olds were going to shop fashion than groceries, but when push came to shove, groceries were the most widely shopped category across all key demographics. Overall, though, shoppers shopped at least two categories, so it wasn’t ALL about the ‘boring’ basics.

The retailers supplying those boring basics really came through for their shoppers, though, with supermarkets dominating the rankings when it came to the retailers who delivered on the best Black Friday offers.

There were high expectations before Black Friday, with shoppers expecting the best offers to come from – in decreasing order of mention – Game, Checkers and Makro, with Takealot, Clicks and Shoprite rounding out the top six.

When reviewing Black Friday, the voting was a little different. The Shoprite Group dominated, with Checkers and Shoprite getting the highest and second highest number of votes. Pick n Pay jumped up into third spot, followed by Clicks, Makro and Game.

Retail therapy for ME

We wondered if shoppers saw Black Friday as a good time to stock up on gifts, whether for Christmas or other occasions, and for themselves or for others. And they do. Before Black Friday, respondents said they were planning to spoil themselves (and others, but mainly themselves) and shoppers followed through, with 40% buying themselves gifts.

Before Black Friday, men seemed to be much more likely than women to be planning to treat themselves, but when the spending started, as many women as men popped treats in their baskets.

Until next year…

And now for a quick breath before the Silly Season spending kicks off with a vengeance. Even though freezers and pantries seem to have been stocked up with Black Friday special offers, indicators suggest healthy festive season grocery spending, too. We’re looking forward to some positive retail trade growth figures.