Kirsty Mckenzie
BLACK Friday is expected to give a boost to Spanish businesses as a record number of shoppers flock to shop online to cure COVID boredom.
The discount day, that originated in America and has fast become the biggest shopping event in counties across the globe, is expected to see nearly half of Spain reach into their wallets.
Neus Soler, professor of Economics and Business Studies at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) said research indicates that 40% of people in Spain will shop the Black Friday sales – an increase from 33% the previous year.
He said frustrations surrounding the virus will cause people to spend more than in previous years, with ‘the feeling of worthiness’ likely to spur on sales.
He added: “People have involuntarily saved during the pandemic and seek to ‘pamper themselves’ by spending in those spending categories that contribute to a positive emotionality”.
Earlier reports from the Bank of Spain found that households across the country saved 22% of their disposable income during the state of alarm.
Reduced consumption over the last few months means that people are unlikely to put off big purchases if they see the desired item reduced.
“Consumers who have a real need and who have delayed their purchase decision until now will take advantage of these days to meet their needs with more competitive prices,” explains Maria Teresa Ballestar who worked with Solar on the project.
She adds that older buyers have shed any previous fears they had of shopping online after months of confinement.
“The current situation has encouraged the use of online channels as a way to avoid contagion risk.”
Their findings are backed up by a recent report from IPOS which found that 45% of Spaniards buy more online than they did before the pandemic.
More than half of Black Friday shoppers will be female (54%) according to the study.
Soler has said that this is because women are usually responsible for acquiring a wide variety of products for themselves and for the family as a whole.
However, the report of the technology giant indicates that men spend an average of €200 euros in comparison to women who will spend €160.
The forecast comes as Spanish retailers announced a decline in sales from the previous year.
Across all stores shopper numbers last month were down 2.7% compared to the previous year, according to National Statistics Institute (INE) data.
