In six years, eMAG’s Black Friday sales have doubled, and 2023 was a record year with sales of 731 million lei, almost 90 million lei more than Black Friday 2022. Although Facebook is full of people who say they hate Black Friday and don’t want to hear about it, the reality was quite different. Why did Black Friday 2023 bring such big sales in Romania?

Some takeaways from Black Friday 2023

• While many of us in our social media “bubbles” have many friends who curse Black Friday and say it’s a big hoax with lots of fake discounts, it’s clear that the “bubbles” don’t reflect the reality of the market. People bought “firmly”.

• We can also suspect that many people who shopped on Black Friday 2023 did NOT post about it on Facebook, thinking there was no point in telling the world what they got.

• No doubt, many Romanians bought things just because it was Black Friday and they were motivated to buy something, but also because family or friends told them that they bought different things. The various psychological mechanisms that retail trade is famous for have worked to the full for Romanians.

• What goes through our heads on Black Friday and why we buy more than we need

• Every year, eMAG estimates a few days before how much will be sold on Black Friday. In general, the estimate is adjusted with an error of 5-15 million lei. In 2023, eMAG estimated total sales at 680 million lei, but the figures after November 10 were 51 million lei above these estimates. Perhaps eMAG gave more modest estimates, but sales clearly exceeded all expectations.

• The number of online stores included in the eMAG platform has grown significantly, and as a result, there are many more products available to customers. The number of stores participating in Black Friday on the eMAG platform has doubled in five years: from 5,300 in 2018 to 11,700 last year. In four years, the number of BF products sold has doubled from 1.3 million in 2019 to 2.8 million this year.

• No doubt there were many people who, while not planning to buy anything on Black Friday, browsed the sales, saw various items at a good price and bought them. BF was useful for some of the 600,000 customers who bought something from eMAG on November 10th.

• It sold for more money and because almost all items (even heavily discounted ones) cost more than they did on Black Friday 2022, because price increases continued throughout the year.

• Considering the things listed here, there is a very high chance that Black Friday 2024 will exceed 750 million lei on eMAG, especially since it can be assumed that there will be more stores on the platform next year.

• Card payments had a record share of 71%, which is twice as much as five years ago, when the share was 34%. 12 years ago, the share of card payments was about 10%, and in 2016 it was only 26%.

• Black Friday from Romania – a 12-year history. What has changed and what were the impressive moments
• What happened in Romania on Black Friday 2023

We used eMAG data for two reasons:

1. Black Friday in Romania mostly means eMAG, which is the biggest online store.

2. eMAG has been providing Black Friday data for 12 years and this data can be compared to identify different trends.

eMAG’s Black Friday sales for the past six years

2023 year: 731 million lei

2022 year: 644 million lei

2021 year: 609 million lei

2020 is the year: 585 million lei

2019 year: 499 million lei

2018 year: 459 million lei