The national association of consumers and users CLCV conducted the survey and noted that 35% of the prices of items were higher on Black Friday than the previous month.
Black Friday does not necessarily mean good deals. This is affirmed by the CLCV, the national association of consumers and users, which publishes a survey on this high point of business opportunities, organized last week. According to the association, 35% of item prices were higher on Black Friday than the month before. Reductions averaged 17% per product. As for the crossed out prices, they were simply “inflated”.
“Despite the new regulations in force which have come to better regulate promotional offers, Black Friday 2022 remains a mixed day,” says the association. Who denounces the persistence of “false promotions”.
Price evolution of 232 products
To conduct its investigation, the CLCV compared the prices of a panel of 13 products: telephone, Bluetooth speaker, tablet, vacuum cleaner, microwave, oven, etc. They were offered by 12 of the largest e-commerce sites in France: Amazon, Cdiscount, Darty, Carrefour, E. Leclerc, Auchan, But, Conforama, Boulanger, Rue du Commerce, Mano Mano and Electro Dépôt.
“In total, we tracked the price movement of 232 products in the month leading up to Black Friday. We tracked prices 4 times during that month and on D-Day. is not exhaustive but allows to give a price trend”, specify the authors of the survey.
65% of products saw their price remain stable or decrease
The results are mixed. “In the majority of the products studied, we found that the distributors comply with the new legislation in force or that the products were not affected by the Black Friday offers”, they add. That the crossed out prices “had indeed been offered to consumers during the last 30 days”. On the selection of articles, more than 150 products were thus not affected by Black Friday.
On the other hand, 65% of the products studied saw their prices remain stable or decrease. “The reductions applied or the reduction in prices often remain marginal”, notes the association. Who specifies: “By comparing the first price statement, at the end of October 2022, with that of Black Friday day, half of the reductions were less than 13%”. Also note that “many of these products have seen their prices drop well before Black Friday”. On average, therefore, “the reduction applied was 17% taking as a reference the price recorded one month before Black Friday”.
Biggest Drops: Microwaves
“According to our price surveys and considering only the items that suffered a price drop between the first and the last price survey, microwaves are the items that, on average, have had the most significant promotions (-37%) during this Black Friday. Conversely, washing machines have on average seen their price decrease by only 9%”, concludes the survey.