Although sales reached 5.8 billion euros during Black Friday 2023, compared to around 2 billion for a normal day in retail, the revenue losses recorded on the days before and after the event amounted to around 5.5 billion euros, according to a study published in the latest issue of the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.
It appears that the increase in sales observed on Black Friday was mainly the result of a shift in purchases, which negatively affected demand during the periods before and after the event.
On November 24, 2023, Black Friday, “sales jumped 150 to 200%. However, taking into account the periods before and after D-Day, the net increase is limited to only 7%,” specifies the study.
These results can be explained by the postponement of consumer purchases, which would shift their spending towards the key days of Black Friday, Friday, and Cyber Monday, the following Monday, leading to a significant drop in demand during the three weeks preceding these promotional days and up to two weeks afterwards.
The situation would be even more worrying in terms of profitability. If Black Friday 2023 generated 625 million euros in profits, the losses recorded before and after the event reached 883 million euros, thus generating an overall deficit of 258 million euros, specifies the study.
Retailers engage in intense competition which pushes them to offer discounts that are often excessive and unprofitable, estimates the same survey, adding that some companies would have made more profits by avoiding participating in these price wars.
This year, Black Friday, a concept born in the United States in the 1950s and whose name became popular over the following decade, will take place on Friday November 29, 2024.
