A new poll by leading customer and market research company Maru reveals that 2 in 5 (40% of) UK shoppers feel that Black Friday discounts of 50% or more are not believable. Their survey of 1,000 UK shoppers comes as previous studies have suggested that some retailers raise their prices in the weeks ahead of Black Friday in order to offer faux or misleading discounts on the day*.

Maru’s research also shows that while more shoppers are participating in Black Friday (47%) on 29th November than not (33%), most (58%) are doing so just to purchase an item they have already been considering for some time (at a discounted rate). Just 25% of shoppers planned to make unplanned purchases on Black Fridaybased on the deals and offers that are available on the day.

Sarah Beams, Managing Director of Maru commented: “While Black Friday remains one of the country’s biggest annual shopping events, our research suggests that shoppers are increasingly sceptical about the deals on offer and are instead waiting to see if items they are already considering will come down in price. As such Black Friday may in some cases be doing more to delay big purchases until later in the year rather than inspire more mass impulse shopping. The implication for many retailers is that they will need to do more to build trust in Black Friday deals to make them feel believable enough for consumers to buy into.”

For more information, visit https://www.marugroup.net/