The practice of Black Friday applied in Greece for third consecutive year in Friday 23th of November, 2018. Taking into consideration this practice, which as it seems tends to become an institution, Marketing Laboratory MARLAB of the University of Macedonia conducted this survey for third year in a row. The survey planned and conducted under supervision of the Director of MARLAB, Professor. Rodoula Tsiotsou. The main purpose of this survey was the recording of Greek consumers’ behavior during the practice of Black Friday and the comparison within the last two years.
Sample’s Profile. The questionnaire was answered by 430 people 26,5% of them were males and 73,5% were females. As regards the issue of age, 28,5% of the sample was between 18-24 years old while 38,5% was between 25-35 years old, 27,5% was between 36-50 years old and the rest 5,5% was 51 years old and over. 36,7% of the participants was employees in the private domain, 10,4% in the public sector, 12,3% was freelancers and 17,3% was unemployed. In regard to participants’ income, 38% had an annual income lower than 10.000 Euros, 35,2% stated income between 10.001-20.000 Euros, 13% had an income around 20.001-30.000 Euros while only 13,8% stated an annual income over 30.001 Euros. Regarding the educational status, the majority of the sample owned an academic degree in a percentage of 53%, 22% had a Master’s degree and 21% had a high school diploma. The sample was Panhellenic, originated from 38 different country’s districts.
Information Sources and Knowledge. It seems that social media constituted the main informative source for Greek consumers about the institution of Black Friday in the country. 57,6% of the respondents was exclusively informed by the social media network, whereas TV advertisements were the second choice in a percentage of 26,8%. For 15,6% of the sample the sources of information were social media in conjunction with TV advertisements or shop windows or even by references by their friends and relatives. As for consumers’ knowledge about Black Friday’s practice, 4,4% stated that they knew absolutely or almost nothing for this specific practice while 55% considered that knows very well about it.
Consumer and Purchasing Behavior. It arises from the survey that the consumers responded to some extent to the challenge of commercial companies as 30% of the sample made a purchase during Black Friday. 24% of the participants made also a purchase during last Black Friday. 21% of the sample visited only shopping malls, 34% purchased only online. The consumers paid mainly by debit cards (42%), in cash (41%) but also by credit cards too (25,4%).
Thanks to the first evidence of the survey we can conclude that the consumers have better knowledge and information for Black Friday’s practice, in comparison with the previous years, while social media constitute the main source of information for one more time. It seems that Greek consumers responded the same, compared with the last years and they proceeded purchases although they spent more money this year. However, the big discount rates which were given from commercial companies motivated the consumers in order to fulfill more purchases and in particular via the Internet.
Most purchases were made in new technologies’ stores, cosmetics’ stores and clothing/footwear stores as the consumers spent in majority (31,3%) up to 50 Euros, 28,4% spent 51-100 Euros while only 7,5% stated that had spent more than 501 Euros. The research also shows that stores made bigger offers in relation to previous years as 44% of the consumers claimed that one of the products that they have bought earned a discount in the range of 30-40% and 35,5% stated that have bought in discount from more than 50% of the original value and over. For the participants, the products which had the greatest discount were those of technology (74%), clothing/footwear (20%), cosmetics (16%) and household equipment (16%). In the question «Is it worthy for someone to make a purchase during Black Friday?», 28% believes that it is worth it, 40% did not expressed any opinion and 31,5% is totally against it and believes it is totally worthless.
Future Intentions. In the question «If they plan to buy a product next year during Black Friday in Greece? », 48% of the participants stated that they don’t intend to buy anything especially that day, 36% doesn’t know it yet and 16% stated that will proceed a purchase. Conclusively, the participants were asked if they will recommend Black Friday to their friends or relatives in order to make purchases. 36% of them claimed that maybe/sure will, while 24% stated that they wouldn’t recommend it in any way.
In Greek
