Black Friday: what we buy and how we pay

Monday marks the start of so-called Black Week, a week of sales and bargains in regular and online shops. It culminates in Black Friday (Friday, 29 November) and Cyber Monday (Monday, 2 December). Although the idea of shopping madness originated in the United States, it has also gained popularity in Poland.

As many as 9 out of 10 participants in the ‘Mobile Portrait of a Pole’ survey commissioned by Bank Millennium are familiar with the term ‘Black Friday’ and 6 out of 10 respondents are familiar with ‘Cyber Monday’. More than 40 per cent of respondents admitted that they had been tempted to shop on these days in previous years. And what will it be like this year? Half of the Poles surveyed do not yet know whether they will take advantage of November's promotions and sales, while more than 20 per cent are already planning their purchases.

— Far more Poles are undecided about taking advantage of Black Friday or Cyber Monday than are already planning a purchase. This indicates that these shopping will be largely spontaneous. In this case, this means that the numerous advertisements for attractive bargains have a good chance of convincing at least some of this 46 per cent. of the Poles to make purchases they had not previously anticipated. A much smaller proportion (25 per cent) dismisses participation in the upcoming opportunity week out of hand. Here, there is a fear of being lured into false bargains, but also attitudes of minimising over-consumption - comments Katarzyna Dobosz, CX research and design expert at the Quality Department in Bank Millennium.

The study ‘Mobile Portrait of a Pole’ shows that during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, every second Pole planning to shop intends to buy clothing, footwear and accessories or consumer electronics/home appliances. Cosmetics ranked third (one in three respondents intends to buy them), followed by paperback books and children's items (21 per cent of indications each) and jewellery (19 per cent of respondents want to buy it).

Sales and promotions will be sought mainly online by those wanting to benefit from the Black Week. As many as 83 per cent of them plan to shop online this year - among the youngest 18-24 age group, this figure is as much as 10 percentage points higher at 93 per cent. How will they pay for their purchases? More than 40 per cent of those surveyed pay for their online purchases most often by BLIK code (and as many as 55 per cent use this payment method from time to time), and 20 per cent by - by quick transfer from a payment gateway (nearly half of those surveyed pay this way from time to time). Among other payment methods, respondents mentioned: account card, credit card, digital wallet (among others Apple Pay or Google Pay), deferred payments and PayPal.

In comparison, only 33 per cent of respondents intend to go on sale shopping in regular shops. When asked how they usually pay for such purchases, they indicate an account card (41 per cent) or cash (20 per cent), credit card (13 per cent), contactless payments with a digital wallet in their phones (12 per cent), BLIK contactless payments (7 per cent), BLIK code (5 per cent), as well as instalments and payments with a watch or payment band.

— Around Black Friday we see a spike in number of transactions, both online and in regular shops. This year we expect records to be broken. We already had a foretaste of what lies ahead on another shopping holiday, Singles' Day, which falls on 11 November. Our customers were most keen to pay with BLIK, and the number of these transactions was more than 30 per cent higher than last year. Our data also shows that in Q3 2024, nearly 2 million clients paid at least once with BLIK - explains Tomasz Perski, head of the Customer Solutions Development Team - Cards and Payments in the Electronic Banking Department in Bank Millennium.

Respondents in the ‘Mobile Portrait of a Pole’ survey were also asked where they get their knowledge of promotions, discounts and bargains offered by shops and brands. The so-called new media are leading the way here. Around 30 per cent of respondents each cited mobile apps with leaflets, advertisements on websites, social media and shop emails or newsletters. Considered to be the traditional media - television - only came in fifth place with 28 per cent and radio in tenth place (13 per cent of indications).

Respondents who admitted to viewing promotions and discounts on the app were asked to name these apps. The most popular are goodie and Pepper (17 per cent of indications each), as well as AleRabat (13 per cent) and Picodi (6 per cent). Respondents in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups are the most likely to use them, with up to one in three respondents admitting to doing so.

Goodie is also very popular and takes the podium in recognition in the cashback category, i.e. refunding part of the amount spent on online purchases.

— We are very pleased to find that goodie is the most frequently indicated platform for finding promotions. These results are particularly important to us in the context of the upcoming Black Friday, when consumers are busily searching for the best deals and promotions. With goodie, they can easily and conveniently take advantage of attractive refunds for their purchases, combine them with promotions, discount codes and browse shopping newspapers, making shopping even more cost-effective. In particular, since goodie will also be offering very attractive promotions during this period with high returns for purchases at many popular shops. Certainly, to help users combine sales with cashback, in goodieit will be easy to find the most interesting price deals and discount codes offered in online shops this time — says Bolesław Witkowski, head of the Product Team in Millennium goodie.

However, according to the survey, not everyone indulges in a shopping frenzy. 28 per cent of respondents announced that they do not intend to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Why? 42 per cent are sceptical about the discounts on offer at that time and believe that shops do not offer exceptional bargains at the time. In contrast, 35 per cent of respondents say they try to limit buying things that are not essential, and 22 per cent do not want to spend money unnecessarily. One in three respondents believe they have nothing in sight to buy and 22 per cent do not give a specific reason, but simply do not intend to shop at that time.

The "Mobile Partrait of a Pole" survey was carried out in October 2024 by Ogólnopolski Panel Badawczy Ariadna research agency for Bank Millennium on a representative sample of 1068 people using the CAWI method.

More information: www.bankmillennium.pl