Black friday for seven out of ten Italians: spending rises to EUR 268, one third buy only online
Women, young people aged between 18 and 34, and residents of northern Italy, more than half of whom will take advantage of the shopping spree to buy Christmas presents
Seven out of ten Italians will shop during Black Friday week, 3% more than in 2024, "and more than half will take advantage of it to buy Christmas presents". This is the estimate of Confcommercio according to which "the average spending budget will be 268 euros, slightly up on last year. Women, young people aged between 18 and 34, and residents in Northern Italy will be the main shopping drivers". "90.9% of consumers will spend up to 500 euro, while only 9.1% will exceed this threshold," notes the association. These numbers are contained in the survey carried out by Confcommercio Imprese per l'Italia, in collaboration with Format Research, on the forecasts and purchase intentions of Italians on the occasion of Black Friday, from which it also emerges that people will spend and buy more, also with the help of artificial intelligence.
Another important fact that emerges is that one third of Italians will only buy online on Black Friday, while half will make their purchases both online and in physical shops. Confcommercio estimates that precisely 50.2% of shoppers will use both physical and online shops, while 32.3% will only buy online and 17.5% exclusively in physical shops. Among the physical sales channels, shopping centres remain the preferred locations, with an increase of 5.2 percentage points compared to 2024. Digital communication plays a central role: 41.5 per cent of consumers say they are influenced by web advertising, 34.6 per cent by artificial intelligence (growing among consumers for information seeking and time cushioning) and 29.1 per cent by Instagram. Among those who inform themselves on social, reels and posts are the most decisive content in their choice.
"Scam attempts against consumers linked to Black Friday have already started", is the complaint of Assoutenti, which, in view of the week of discounts at the end of November, launches "the alarm on the scams that are raging especially on social networks". Black Friday, in fact, "unleashes an avalanche of promotional messages concealing scams and attempts to steal users' bank data," explains president Gabriele Melluso. "Messages that are already being conveyed these days not only through e-mails or text messages, but above all through social networks such as Instagram, Telegram or Facebook, using hashtags, tags and private messages that sponsor links to sites that offer huge discounts on smartphones or designer clothes. "In most cases, these pages aim to steal users' bank credentials and credit card data in order to empty their bank accounts, and there are even fake online shops that, after collecting the money from consumers, do not send the goods and disappear into thin air," Melluso continued. "In the coming days, scam attempts using such ploys will multiply, so we urge consumers to be extremely careful and we are today distributing a decalogue with useful tips to avoid falling into the trap.
