• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 19, 2024

Black Friday is next week, and consumers are in a suspicious mood. 

While they plan to maintain their spending levels, they are skeptical of claims by retailers that they have lowered prices, according to a study by Attest.   

Of the shoppers polled, 83% feel prices are either higher or have remained at the same level as last year’s. Indeed, 44.5% say prices are higher and 38.4% feel they are at the same level. 

Despite that, 28% agree Black Friday is the best day for finding heavily discounted products -- an increase of 6% YoY.  

Price will obviously be the dominant factor in any Black Friday emails going out. 

Among shoppers,16% plan to maintain their spend from $101-$200 and 15% from $201-$300. And 12% simply won’t participate in the retail frenzy.  

The difference in spending levels from last year varies by only 1% to 2%.  

Online shopping is seeing a boost, with 26% planning to rely exclusively on this channel, an 6% increase over last year. Another 58% will shop both online and in-store.  

At 51%, clothing tops shopping lists, and 48% are looking for tech products. The next most popular items are home goods (35%) and beauty products (24%). 

Attest surveyed 2000 U.S. consumers in October 2024.