SA's won't stay away from Black Friday like they did from local government elections

What are consumers looking to buy?

The top three categories of interest to consumers this Black Friday are:

• Electronics
  
• Clothing, shoes or accessories
  
• Groceries.

Clothing and groceries were the most popular categories in 2020 during Black Friday. This year, however, electronics have overtaken these categories. Despite the tough economic times, 34% of consumers said they plan on spending between R2001 and R5000, while another 27% plan on spending even more (between R5001 and R10 000). Not surprisingly, consumers with higher household incomes are willing to spend more than those with lower incomes.

Brick and mortar or online purchases?

Consumers search for Black Friday deals by searching online (73%) or social media (47%). It goes without saying that if retailers want consumers to see their deals, they need to ensure they have both an online and social media presence.

The majority of consumers are planning to shop in-store on Black Friday. Online shopping, however, does not lag far behind which means that preparation for both channels will be key.

Due to the pandemic, consumers are also willing to buy almost anything online, with no category out of bounds. The most popular categories for online purchases are clothing (63%), electronics (61%) and household appliances (50%).

This year consumers are looking for bargains when it comes to Black Friday deals. A bargain means the product needs to be on offer at a significant decrease from the original price (62%) or as specials which they would not usually find (51%). They are also searching for deals online, prior to purchase, so they need to be able to see each retailer’s price points, and what a significant decrease in price entails.

How consumers will truly behave during Black Friday in comparison to their predictions will be interesting to see. This year Ask Afrika will be running another study on Black Friday, to check in with consumers and unpack what was bought and how much money they spent. Look out for the next instalment!

¹Source: A Powerpanel Study conducted by Ask Afrika

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About Ask Afrika

Ask Afrika is a decisioneering company. We support our clients’ decisions through facts. Typically, our clients’ require information around social research and philanthropy, experience measures and consulting, and brand dynamics.

Social research decisions are required around HIV/Aids and more recently, Covid-19. Educational and early childhood development, fair-trade shopping, media and financial research are some of the areas we love to work in. NGO’s, public- and private sector clients choose to work with us to get the pulse of the nation.

Besides being decisioneers in brand and customer experience research, Ask Afrika is well known for creating some of the most useful, go-to industry benchmarks, including the Ask Afrika Orange Index^®, the Ask Afrika Icon Brands^®, the Ask Afrika Kasi Star Brands and the Target Group Index (TGI). Ask Afrika’s knowledge of brands is extensive. The Target Group Index (TGI) survey, which measures psychographics, service, products, media and brands, has been used by the majority of the top 50 advertisers and media owners in South Africa for nearly two decades.

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