Black Friday sees shoppers opt for established sellers

Black Friday will see shoppers today opting for merchants that sell “established brands,” says a new analysis.

Almost a third (31%) of polled UK shoppers say that this Black Friday they will shop from trusted merchants that offer “established brands,” and 6% of the same cohort will purchase from an international brand, suggests new study by YouGov and Ingenico. The research surveyed 8,000 adult consumers across France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands and 2077 UK shoppers to understand how consumers will be shopping this Black Friday.

When it comes to clients in international markets, 24% of surveyed French shoppers will shop with “foreign” sellers during Black Friday sales, and 48% of Belgium consumers are going to opt for merchants that sell “global brands.”

Security concerns

French shoppers (24%) say their top purchasing concern is the “security of payments” when shopping from international merchants, with 23% of polled Spanish consumers cite the same reason as their most important factor which determines whether they will shop from sellers, following “affordability” as their second most important factor  (45%) during the peak sales period. Whereas, less than a half (45%) of the same group reference “discounts” as their most desired shopping incentive this Black Friday.

Rising scepticism

Some 66% of all surveyed clients say that they find discounts “artificial,” with 25% of the same cohort would prefer other purchasing incentives including loyalty and referral bonuses, exclusive and unique products as well as extended returns or free next-day shipping.

“Black Friday is very closely associated with discounting in the minds of UK shoppers, so most retailers tend to keep their message quite simple and focused on that theme. However, it may be difficult for a small retailer to compete in that way with larger retailers, so they could consider trying an alternative approach; perhaps donating a percentage of each sale to a charity for example instead of discounting, or running community-specific events if they have stores. Another option may be to include some degree of free consultation on the products they sell – which might suit beauty, exercise or electronics – for items purchased during their Black Friday campaign period.”
-Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director at IMRG

Will Amazon eclipse merchants this Black Friday?

Some 12% of surveyed UK shoppers say that they will shop this Black Friday from “small” or “niche” merchants. As it appears, smaller sellers have an opportunity to make a success of this Black Friday, but will we see this manifest?

“Technology is levelling the playing field in ecommerce. Those that enable international sales, in local language, currencies and payment methods, as well as optimising their sites for mobile commerce, will be the big winners this year as customers browse for the best deals, products and incentives throughout the sales period.”
-Benoit Boudier, managing director, EMEA, small and medium Businesses at Ingenico