This exceptional promotional day in France will take place this year on Friday November 27. However, promotions of all kinds have already started today and will continue throughout the week (the famous Black Week), with Black Friday remaining the highlight of the event. Our email boxes have been filling up for several days with Black Friday promotions and covering all kinds of products to seduce us and make us aware that the good deals are happening now, with customers looking to get there in advance to offer the relevant gifts.
Black Friday, where does it come from?
The most fanciful explanations of the origins of this commercial day are circulating. Black Friday has been a custom in the United States for over 40 years. What is it about? The day after Thanksgiving Thursday, merchants slash prices and customers flock to exceptional promotions that fall between back-to-school and the Christmas holidays.
The most common explanation is that the day after Thanksgiving, merchants write in black ink in the books where they keep their accounts and no longer in red ink, but there are many other explanations which are even the subject of study by researchers. For years that can now be counted on the fingers of two hands, American e-retailers of notable size have extended this successful operation throughout the world, including France. The major French brands have followed suit, because they see a real opportunity to achieve interesting turnover before Christmas and sales periods and therefore to attract customers during a slow period of the year. Now, the Black Friday weekend alone accounts for nearly 7% of annual e-commerce turnover in France, showing growth in online sales of around 10% year on year.
What impact in France?
Almost all French people (more than 95%) have now heard of Black Friday, and the event is anchored in customs: almost 77% of 18-64 year olds now participate in purchases during the period. On the budget side, buyers plan on average to spend between 230 and 240 euros, with budgetary decisions remaining strict in the face of purchasing power. A highlight of recent years is that more than 60% of purchases made during Black Friday are now used to anticipate Christmas gifts, transforming the event into a real budget planning tool.
Clothing, shoes and leather goods remain safe values, closely followed by high-tech, household appliances and home innovations (such as connected kitchen appliances). More than half of French people still see Black Friday as a marketing incentive to spend more or express a certain distrust of false promotions. Conversely, a large portion of consumers see it as an essential way to make real savings.
According to Mike Hadjadj, Founder of the iloveretail.fr expert network: “Even if they have few illusions about the intentions of the brands participating in Black Friday, the French plan to rush to promotions that they will recognize and to spend significant budgets, particularly in fashion. Growing awareness, high purchasing intentions, increasing budget: Black Friday takes roote increasingly in the purchasing habits of the French and is establishing itself as a time of consumption in its own right. »
Black Friday takes place online first
Since marketing and promotions come from the web, it should be noted that it is traditionally the oldest people who have the least digital reflex towards Black Friday, although the use is becoming more widespread among all generations.
A large proportion of French people intend to take advantage of Black Friday to make purchases, with young professionals and families constituting the heart of the most frequent buyers.
The vast majority of Black Friday participants favor online purchases, clearly outperforming physical commerce, even if the latter retains an important local role. On the Internet, the success of Black Friday cannot be denied: online searches and transactions continue to break audience and order volume records each year in France, while on social networks, Black Friday has permanently established itself as a real star.
