The Super Sale Game: who’s the winner? A study on how we shop and pay

New research from Kaspersky reveals that 90% of purchases are made spontaneously during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It also revealed that social media has a surprisingly large contribution to sales results, with more than half (58%) of followers trying to get their hands on special offers suggested by their favourite influencers and online bloggers. The survey also found that women (22%) are more avid super-discount shoppers than men (17%) and most respondents (69%) are prepared to wait for big discount events to get the best deals.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are hugely popular global discount events. They usually involve millions of people around the world. Specifically, Black Friday online sales increased by 3.5% to $65.3 billion worldwide in 2022. Besides, according to Salesforce's research on sales recap, consumers spent $1.14 trillion online globally during the discount season. Taking this into account, Kaspersky investigated user behavior and habits related to major sale events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The survey results show that most consumers cannot resist the flood of special offers during Black Friday or Cyber Monday and the majority buy anything despite any previous plans. 90% of respondents buy things impulsively during these sales and 57% do so most or even all of the time. In addition, bloggers, friends and relatives also have a big influence on impulse buying. For example, 58% of respondents are willing to buy a product if they see it in recommendations from bloggers they follow. At the same time, 40% of users are ready to buy something unplanned if they receive a recommendation from friends or family members.

Women are the most avid super sale shoppers, with 22% saying they will always make impulse purchases during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, compared to only 17% of men. People aged 25 to 34 also stand out: 23% say they will always buy something on impulse during these days, a significantly higher figure than any other age group.

When it comes to the importance of big discount events for respondents, 71% are prepared to wait until big events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday to get the best deals. While 75% of consumers say they make use of the run-up to these events to plan their biggest purchases in advance, hoping to make the most of price reductions and special offers.