Black Friday is a sales event that Romania borrowed from the US in 2011. Most of the local online and offline retailers offer promotional sales in this period, expecting higher sales every year as Romanians started to be more interested in this campaign and are willing to spend more.

According to Google Trends data, Romania ranks second in the world after the US when taking into account the online search volume of Black Friday campaigns related to the total number of inhabitants.

According to estimations made by NETOPIA mobilPay, one of the largest online card payments processors on the local market, Romanians have an average budget of RON 460 (over EUR 100) for online shopping during this year’s Black Friday, the amount being more than a third higher than last year’s. Moreover, the average amount spent on Black Friday will also be higher than the annual average. Thus, if the average daily transaction amounted to RON 230 (EUR 51) this year, Romanians are expected to spend RON 460 (more than EUR 100) on the special Black Friday.

The consumers’ increasing appetite for discounts will also increase the number of digital payments in Romania, which is expected to grow by more than 50%. Around a third of the online payments are to be made from tablets and smartphones, and the rest will come from laptops and desktops.

In terms of cities, more than half of the payments will be made from Bucharest, followed by Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Brasov, Iasi, and Constanta. Most of the transactions will be made for IT&C products, fashion, cosmetics, home & decor, books, travel packages and plane tickets.

A novelty this year is that Romanians will be able to use Bitcoins to pay for the products bought from NETOPIA mobilPay partner stores that have implemented transactions with this digital currency.

E-payment processor PayU Romania also estimates that the number of orders to be made on Black Friday (which most retailers will organize on November 20) will double compared to 2014.

“Overall, we expect the stores in PayU’s portfolio that organize Black Friday to register sales of more RON 450 million. We estimate that at least 25% of the total number of orders will be paid using with banking cards,” said Marius Costin, CEO PayU Romania, cited by local Dailybusiness.ro.

A study conducted by iSense Solutions shows that urban Romanians with Internet access are more interested in Black Friday discounts this year. They share increased significantly from 28% in 2014 to 34% in 2015. In terms of gender, more men are interested in these discounts (47%), compared to women (27%).

The main products for which Romanians want discounts remained similar to the one in 2014: 33% of Romanians would like discounts for TVs, electronics and photo equipment, 31% want discounts for household appliances, 25% would like cheaper prices for phones and tablets, and 19% want price cuts for IT products.

According to the iSense Solutions study, the number of women who want to buy household appliances is bigger than the number of men (37% vs. 25%), the situation being similar when it comes to clothing and footwear items (15% vs. 6%). Moreover, the buyers aged between 15 and 24 are the ones more interested in buying phones or tablets (40% vs. 25% of the total buyers), while those with high household incomes (over RON 5,000) would most rather buy home appliances.

Local online retailer eMAG estimates that some 11 million Romanians have heard about the Black Friday shopping event and 6.7 million plan on buying something on Black Friday this year. The 2014 edition of the campaign is expected to be bigger than last year, despite the multitude of discount campaigns carried out by local retailers throughout the year.

According to a study published by Millward Brown Romania, the shopping list that Romanians have drafted for the Black Friday shopping event that will take place this Friday includes two or three products. Most of them are TVs, small appliances, and mobile phones.

Black Friday in Romania: What retailers offer discounts this year?

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com