Cyber Monday 2023
UAE

Black Friday and Cyber Monday week: 8 days that ramp up the economy

• 4.3% of annual shopping falls on the 8-day long sales marathon around Black Friday and Cyber Monday;
• 83% of Emiratis who took part in sales were satisfied with their experiences;
• Consumer complaints usually mention too low discounts and lack of attractive products on sale;
• Pandemic and unstable situation in the labour market may cool off the interest of some shoppers;

CyberMonday.Global analytics examined historical statistics about worldwide sales — Black Friday and Cyber Monday — and prepared a prognosis for 2022.

Trends in the last 10 years

With a help of Google Trends, we verified the popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in time, both globally and in the United Arab Emirates.

For ten years, the interest in Black Friday sales steadily increased. In comparison with Black Friday, Cyber Monday was marginalised in the last two years, probably because Black Friday’s time frame became blurry — it is not confined to Friday anymore.

Data for the UAE shows that the peak of interest in both Black Friday and Cyber Monday fell on 2018. Although 2019 was not the best year in terms of Internet users’ activity, both events still receive Emiratis’ attention. Unfortunately, the pandemic and unstable situation in the labour market and the economy may cool off the interest of some shoppers.

How do sales increase on Black Friday and on Cyber Monday?

Internal data of CyberMonday.Global platform indicates that in the UAE, on the main day of Black Friday sales, the number of transactions was 179 per cent higher than the annual average in 2019. On the other hand, on Cyber Monday the activity of shoppers was 84 per cent higher than the annual average.

Keeping in mind that sometimes Black Friday sales start as early as Monday, we checked how the sale looked day by day. The biggest activity was, obviously, noted on Friday — 17.6 per cent of the transactions made between November 25 and December 2 fell on this day. The Monday prior to Black Friday had the least number of purchases during the analysed period. In total, 4.3 per cent of all annual sales took place during the 8 days of sales.

Did shops satisfy the clients?

We asked 19 thousand Internet users in several dozens of countries about their opinion on November sales. 40 per cent of Emiratis who took part in any of the analysed events were satisfied. 43 per cent of consumers were rather satisfied. However, the proportion of unsatisfied consumers in the UAE is quite high (15 per cent rather unsatisfied and 2 per cent unsatisfied). Hungarians, Argentinians, and South Africans were even more discontent about Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

What was the biggest hassle for shoppers? Among the unsatisfied, 59 per cent said that discounts were too low. The second most common complaint (53 per cent) was the lack of attractive products on sale. 35 per cent admitted that discounted products were sold out too fast. Long queues in stores and slowly loading websites were a relatively small problem for consumers (18 and 17 per cent respectively).

What do shoppers really need?

Statistics on Google search queries can tell a lot about Emirati consumers. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are usually associated with sales on electronics. However, in the UAE, it is shoes that are extremely popular. During November sales, the demand for shoes increased the most — 32 per cent compared to the annual average. A similar trend was observed in Greece, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The second category which increased the most in terms of popularity was home and garden (20 per cent increase), while books ranked third (19 per cent). The demand for cosmetics and perfumes increased by 18 per cent.

How much money are shoppers willing to spend?

The survey conducted among citizens od 44 countries shows that Emiratis are rather big spenders: we will spend 740 AED on average (around $201). People from Portugal and Romania will spend a similar amount — $206 and $210 respectively.

Shoppers who are planning to spend the biggest amounts of money on sales come from the USA ($476), Switzerland ($454), and the United Kingdom ($430). Pakistanis and Nigerians will spend the least — $62 and $67.

Methodology

All statistical data comes from Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and Picodi.com, a global discount platform operating since 2010, which created CyberMonday.Global, a site dedicated to Cyber Monday sales. The survey conducted in September 2022 among 19 thousand respondents from 44 countries were also used in the report. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate from Google Finance.

Public Use

Share information about Black Friday and Cyber Monday with your readers! All the data and infographics presented in this report can be freely used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (CyberMonday.Global) with a link to this subpage.