Price comparison site PriceSpy has reported a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in online traffic over the Black Friday sales event, marking it as the busiest day of the year.
PriceSpy country manager for New Zealand Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett said that the sales event is fast becoming a serious shopping day for Kiwis seeking pre-Christmas deals and offers.
“Despite the growing popularity of Black Friday, our data revealed the average discount offered by retailers was lower than expected, at just 12 per cent per product (five per cent less than 2017),” Matinvesi-Bassett said.
“However, nearly a quarter of overall products (23 per cent) received a price reduction and just five per cent received a price increase (half of that seen from the previous two years).”
According to data collected by PriceSpy, the most popular shops over the period included PB Technologies, Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, with the most popular categories being mobile phones, headphones and gaming consoles.
Two of the three most searched for items were actually sold on Black Friday for a higher price than at other times of the year, with the Playstation 4 Pro selling for $517 (compared to $499 on 3 January), and the Nintendo Switch selling for $498 (compared to $469 on 2 October).
“While our insights reveal Black Friday is certainly becoming increasingly popular in New Zealand, our key recommendation to shoppers is to carry out important price and product research before they buy, to make sure they are getting the best price possible,” Matinvesi-Bassett said.
