Stagnation characterized the performance of “Black Friday” in the midst of accumulated inflationary pressures, as shown by the survey of the Institute of Commerce and Services (INEMY) of ESEE.
The Institute conducted, for the eighth year, a survey of a random nationwide sample of 300 commercial enterprises regarding sales during “Black Friday” and the following emerged:
• This year’s Black Friday sales were attended by most businesses (56%), a performance, however, slightly lower than last year, when 61% of businesses participated.
• It seems that the reduced consumer power combined with the increased operating costs did not particularly favor the participation of companies in this practice, despite the fact that the large retail chains have contributed to the consolidation of this action.
• Four in ten businesses (41%) that engaged in this practice held sales throughout the week, effectively turning ‘Black Friday’ into ‘Black Week’.
• Almost three in four businesses (72%) adopted discounts of up to 30%. For around one in three businesses (36%) the discount rate ranged between 11% and 20%, a similar performance for businesses (34%) who proceeded with discounts between 21% and 30%.
• More than half of the businesses (55%) have adopted discounts on all store merchandise codes, a practice that is likely also linked to the abolition of intermediate discounts. Instead, several chains and online stores have adopted selective discounts, in specific categories/ranges of products.
17% of smaller businesses participated in this action with discounts mainly on “stock” merchandise, a performance that is identical to businesses (also 17%) that proceeded with discounts on specific categories of merchandise.
• In general, retail businesses appear relatively satisfied with traffic, with almost six out of ten reporting a moderate/high level of satisfaction.
• A similar picture is recorded in the level of business satisfaction regarding turnover, since 56% of them declared moderately/very satisfied. This element is an indication that there was no substantial discrepancy between store traffic and purchase realization.
At the same time, the picture both in terms of traffic and sales is very similar to the corresponding last year, underlining the stagnation of purchasing activity, a development that confirms the effects of the inflationary crisis on consumer spending.
• The image of stagnation is verified by the fact that 46% of businesses note that their sales moved at the same levels compared to the corresponding period last year (“Black Friday 2022”).
• More than half of the sampled businesses (55%) now have the ability to sell remotely, a positive sign of progress in the digital transformation of the industry, which, of course, needs to accelerate and become more inclusive .
• The above finding is also confirmed by the fact that for almost half of the companies the sales through a physical store were higher than the counterparts carried out “remotely”.
• The participation of stores in “Cyber Monday”, a practice that concerns businesses with the possibility of remote sales, was very low this year (23%).
• Of particular concern were business sales throughout the autumn period, with 43% recording worse performance compared to the corresponding period in 2022, while only 18% of stores saw an improvement. This development is probably connected to the very good weather conditions, which did not favor the purchase of winter goods.
• In terms of promotions, four out of ten businesses (40%) opted for in-store advertising and three out of ten (30%) relevant messages on the business page, Facebook and social media.
Estimates of the tax bill
With reference to the tax bill, the following emerges:
• Estimates of the effects of the new tax bill cause strong concern among businesses, as six out of ten businesses believe that they will be affected from “a lot” to “very much”.
• Almost half of businesses (46%) believe that the new tax bill affects only small businesses, while 11% of entrepreneurs believe that it is likely to even lead to business interruption.
Source: protothema
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