Black Friday during the pandemic: > 70% of Romanians made purchases from retail sites & mobile apps

In the current context, both the satisfaction of Romanians after the Black Friday shopping and their interest in next year’s discount campaigns have decreased compared to 2019.

This decline was most likely driven by consumers’ perceptions of discounts this year and a change in priorities during this period.

The behaviour of Romanian consumers has undergone several changes this year, according to the Starcom study.

Most Romanian internet users who made Black Friday purchases spent between 1,000 and 2,000 lei, but the share of purchases up to the threshold of 100 lei increased compared to last year. Purchases from personal savings continued to dominate (39%), and this year there was also an increase in purchases by credit card or personal needs, savings dedicated to Black Friday campaigns, account overdrafts and loans. 

The most sought after products were clothing and footwear, personal care products, skincare and home appliances, with a very good conversion rate for personal care and skin care products.

In 2020, half of the buyers spent between 100 and 300 lei for this category. At the same time, the largest amounts were spent on television sets and electronic products, where 4 out of 10 Romanians spent over 1,000 lei.

In 2020, early discount campaigns failed to increase Romanians’ interest in the Black Friday phenomenon, as happened in 2019. However, there was a slight increase among those who prepared their shopping cart with one or two days (4%) and a week (6%) before Black Friday. The number of consumers who bought the desired products in advance also increased, especially the weekend before Black Friday (40%). 

Although the impact of information sources on Black Friday offers decreased in 2020, consumers have been exposed to a lot of information – Facebook posts remain the main communication channel of the phenomenon and the main link between the brand and the consumer. Also, this year we see a significant increase among those who bought the desired products from the retailers’ website or using mobile applications: 7 out of 10 of those interviewed. 

This year’s Black Friday period brought with it even more expectations from consumers in terms of offers and discounts. Internet users said they were relaxed during the event, finding out in advance and feeling in control at the time of purchase. Although the scores of “satisfaction” and “interest” are lower this year, given the period of financial uncertainty, 6 out of 10 Romanian Internet users show interest in Black Friday 2021. 

After the Black Friday discounts, Romanians are starting to prepare their shopping list for the next important event, the Winter Holidays. The main products they intend to buy for this occasion are: food, sweets and soft drinks.