For Italians, Black Friday is increasingly the Christmas of shopping. If until a few years ago few people took advantage of the end-of-November sales, now over 1 in 2 Italians (53%) say they are ready to take advantage of the offers. The connection with Christmas is immediate: with the gift-giving season upon us, around half of those who go shopping this weekend (47%) will do so to put all the gifts under the tree. A thought that Silent and Millennials have in common, with Gen Z who, instead, will take advantage of it to purchase products normally outside their spending capacity. The most popular items? On the podium: electronics and technology products for which, according to merchants’ forecasts, the average budget will be slightly lower than the boom of 2022, reaching 306. Among the rapidly growing formulas is the Buy Now Pay Later considered useful on the occasion of Black Friday by 60% of the sampleAnd. These are the main findings that emerged from the special Black Friday Compass Observatory, the research conducted by the consumer credit company of the Mediobanca Group, with a focus entirely dedicated to electronics. The Compass Observatory shows a particular interest on the part of Millennials (67%), the middle-upper class (62%) and men (58%) towards Black Friday discounts.
There are no major variations in the participation rate: 64% will take advantage of it in the same way as in previous years, one in four (24%) will try to put a stop to purchases, while 12% plan to spend more. The Silents (63%) and again the Millennials (57%) are the generations most likely to take advantage of Black Friday for Christmas gifts, far exceeding the general average of 47%. Gen Z waits for “Black Friday” shopping to purchase products they normally wouldn’t be able to afford (47% versus 37% of the total). The most sceptical? Gen X, according to which Black Friday is just a way to push people into unnecessary purchases. As regards purchasing channels, in the classic battle between e-commerce and physical stores, online wins: 43% will purchase exclusively on the web, with a boom in generalist e-commerce sites. The most popular items are the same as in past years, namely electronics and clothing items. A gender difference in preferences persists this year too, with 45% of men favoring technology and 42% of women favoring fashion. Boomers will mainly look for small household appliances, while telephony interests a quarter of participants, with a prevalence of Gen Z kids. Having risen to prominence in recent years, Buy Now Pay Later allows payments to be made in installments without interest or additional costs . But what do Italians think?
60% believe it is a useful tool especially on occasions like these; a percentage that becomes even larger (73%) if we take into consideration only those who will actually make purchases during Black Friday. BNPL is especially popular with young segments of the population: Millennials (72%), Gen Z (70%) and Gen X (60%). Approximately 1 in 4 Italians will probably take advantage of it (26%), with peaks of 38% among those who purchase during the “black weekend”. The main reason? The possibility of spending more or choosing higher quality products. “Savings and convenience will be the two factors that will characterize Black Friday this year – declared Luigi Pace, Central Director of Marketing & Innovation of Compass. Italians will in fact look at their wallets and the offers of stores, both online and physical, anticipating Christmas gifts or purchasing what had been postponed in previous months perhaps because it was not essential, which has now become more advantageous thanks to the Black Friday offers. With our consumer credit and Buy Now Pay Later solutions, such as PagoLight, it is possible better manage your purchases by deferring the most important payments at no cost, a significant advantage also considering the current context of strong inflation. In this way, as our Observatory also demonstrates, PagoLight not only actually facilitates consumers but also contributes also to support business for shopkeepers, on the web and in physical stores”