Waiting in line all night for Black Friday deals

November 26, 2015
|In Content Strategy
|By Andreas Vourkos

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November). Since the early 2000s, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US, and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales.

At Pollfish we wanted to drill down and learn more about that, so find below some key takeaways based on age:

  • Consumers aged 18-24 are the biggest fans of Black Friday Shopping across all age groups
    • 82% of them said they are planning to engage in some form of Black Friday shopping this year
    • Nearly a third of them plan to wait in line all night for deals
    • Walmart was selected as the favorite Black Friday retailer
    • They also are big spenders: 1 in 5 of them shared they are going to spend more than $2000 on Black Friday
  • Consumers aged 54+ are the biggest fans of Cyber Monday across all age groups
    • 85% of them said they are planning to go to engage in some form of Black Friday shopping this year
    • 57% of them said they are planning to spend more than $2000 on Cyber Monday and they do not have specific preferred online retailers
  • When asked respondents if they had to choose to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, which day would they be more willing to shop, all of the age groups picked Black Friday except the 45-54 year old group.

18-2425-3435-4445-5454+
Going BlackFridayShopping (% of people who said YES)82%62%66%36%80%
When to go?·        Before 6 am(32%)

·        Wait in line all night (27%)

·        Between 8 am and noon ( 23%)

·        Wait in line all night (23%)

·        Before 6 am (23%)

·        Before 4 am(16%)

·        Wait in line all night (31%)

·        Before 6 am(21%)

·        Between 8 am and noon ( 17%)

·        Before 4 am (50%)

·        Between 8 am and noon ( 25%)

·        Wait in line all night/sometime in afternoon (13%)

·        Between 8 am and noon ( 61%)

·        Wait in line all night (20%)

 

Favorite BlackFriday RetailerWalmart (30%)Best Buy (30%)Best Buy (40%)Target (38%)

Walmart (38%)

Other (58%)
What to buy?·        Apparel (30%)

·        Electronics (26%)

·        Other (21%)

·        Electronics (34%)

·        Apparel (19%)

·        Shoes (13%)

·        Electronics (29%)

·        Apparel (14%)

·        Toys for kids (13%)

·        Apparel (23%)

·        Shoes (23%)

·        Car (15%)

·        Other (56%)

·        Electronics (18%)

How much to spend?·        $200-$299 (31%)

·        <$100 (28%)

·        More than $2000 (21%)

·        <$100 (26%)

·        $100-$199 (19%)

·        $200-$299 (19%)

·        <$100 (31%)

·        $200-$299 (14%)

·        More than $2000 (14%)

 

·        <$100 (33%)

·        $400-$499 (22%)

 

·        More than $2000 (63%)

 

Shopping on Cyber Monday? (% of people who said YES)80%64%64%45%85%
What to buy?·        Apparel (30%)

·        Electronics (27%)

·        Other (21%)

·        Electronics (27%)

·        Apparel (19%)

·        Shoes (11%)

·        Electronics (27%)

·        Other (16%)

·        Kitchen Appliances (11%)

·        Car (18%)

·        Toys for kids (18%)

·        Electronics (14%)

·        Other (52%)

·        Electronics (17%)

·        Apparel (16%)

How much to spend?·        <$100 (28%)

·        $200-$299 (27%)

·        More than $2000 (22%)

·        <$100 (29%)

·        $200-299 (21%)

·        $100-199 (18%)

·        <$100 (37%)

·        $200-299 (17%)

·        More than $2000 (15%)

·        <$100 (30%)

·        $200-299 (30%)

·        More than $2000 (57%)

·        <$100 (16%)

 

Shop on mobile on CyberMonday (% of people who said YES)50%65%63%40%27%
Favorite online retailer?Amazon (34%)Amazon (43%)Bestbuy.com (32%)Amazon (30%)

eBay (30%)

Other (60%)
If you had to shop on BlackFriday or CyberMonday, which day would you be more willing to shop?·        Black Friday: 77%

·        CyberMonday: 23%

·        BlackFriday: 54%

·        CyberMonday: 46%

·        BlackFriday: 62.5%

·        CyberMonday: 37.5%

·        Black Friday: 45%

·        Cyber Monday: 55%

·        BlackFriday: 84%

·        CyberMonday: 16%

 

Of course we didn’t stay only in age so we broke-down regional preferences as well and below are some key takeaways:

  • People who live in the South and on the West Coast are Black Friday fans, East Coast and South not that much.
    • 77% of people on the West Coast and 86% of people who live In the South said they are planning for Black Friday shopping while 52% of people on the east coast and 46% of people who live in Midwest are planning to do so
    • When asked respondents if they had to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, which day would they be more willing to shop, the West and the South said Black Friday while the east and the Midwest said Cyber Monday
  • People on the West Coast are the most competitive Black Friday shopper. Among those who are planning to go to BlackFriday Shopping, 56% of them said they plan to wait in line all night.
  • People who live in the south are the biggest spenders on Black Friday. 45% said they plan to spend more than $2000 on Black Friday.
    WestEastSouthMidwest
    Going Black FridayShopping (% of people who said YES)77%52%86%46%
    When to go?·        Wait in line all night (56%)

    ·        Before 6 am(16%)

    ·        Before 4 am(11%)

    		·        Before 4 am(28%)

    ·        Before 6 am(26%)

    ·        Before 8 am(17%)

     

    		·        Between 8 am and noon (45%)

    ·        Before 6 am (26%)

    ·        Wait in line all night (14%)

    		·        Between 8 am and noon (23%)

    ·        Before 6 am (19%)

    ·        Sometime in the afternoon (19%)

    Favorite Black FridayRetailerBest Buy (57%)Best Buy (23%)Other (44%)Best Buy (26%)

    Walmart (26%)

    What to buy?·        Electronics (49%)

    ·        Apparel (15%)

    		·        Electronics (25%)

    ·        Apparel (15%)

    ·        Shoes (15%)

    		·        Other (37%)

    ·        Apparel (25%)

    ·        Electronics (15%)

    		·        Apparel (25%)

    ·        Other (17%)

    ·        Electronic (17%)

    How much to spend?·        <$100 (51%)

    ·        $200-$299 (18%)

     

    		·        $100-$199 (28%)

    ·        <$100 (19%)

    ·        $200-$299 (17%)

    		·        More than $2000 (45%)

    ·        $200-$299 (25%)

    ·        $<$100 (15%)

    Let us know about your preferences for adding consumer insights to your content strategy this Black Friday, or run your own survey here.