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Exclusive Insight: Recently, two words have become synonymous with the pre-holiday shopping frenzy: Black Friday. This phrase has dominated email campaigns and storefront displays for weeks, urging consumers to partake in the retail bonanza.
However, a recent poll conducted by nine.com.au reveals a surprising trend—nearly half of Australians are choosing not to participate in these high-pressure sales.
Out of 416 respondents, close to 50% indicated they have no intentions of spending any money during the Black Friday events.
One respondent shared, “If you have enough disposable income, then yes, you could snag some bargains.” They added a cautionary note, “But it’s easy to get caught up and purchase things you don’t really need.”
”If you have enough disposable income then yes, you could get bargains,” one said.
“But it’s easy to get caught and buy things you don’t really need.”
About 47 per cent of readers had already bought something or planned to buy something in the Black Friday sales.
Fewer than 10 per cent were on the fence.
Many said they would only shop in the Black Friday sales if the discount was high and the item was something they actually needed.
“If I am after something specific and I have tracked the prices for it during the year, and there is a definite discount, then maybe,” one said.
Some respondents voiced distrust in Black Friday sales, stating that it’s hard to tell if you’re actually getting a bargain or not.
Others admitted they were wary of retailers that may have inflated prices before the Black Friday sales to make discounts seem better than they are.
“Retailers and marketers want people to buy more than they need,” University of Melbourne law professor Jeannie Marie Paterson previously told nine.com.au.
“People who run marketing campaigns have studied psychology [and] we need to realise that they know more about us than we know about ourselves, so just beware.”
But the warnings haven’t deterred everyone.
Of those planning to shop the sales, just one in 10 planned to keep their spending under $100.
Almost one in five planned to spend between $101 and $250.
About 12 per cent were budgeting $251 to $500 for their Black Friday purchases, and 16 per cent were planning to spend over $500.
But is all the spending really worth it?
Just over two in five readers said the Black Friday sales are worth the money, while just under two in five said they’re not.
That left about one in five undecided, at least this year.
“If you really need the item or it’s a gift for Christmas, you can save some money, but I don’t buy things just for the sake of it,” one person wrote.
*The nine.com.au poll, which runs once a fortnight, canvases the views of the Nine audience on 9Nation, which is an online community of our readers and viewers.
