The one that started this morning promises to be a record-breaking Black Friday , with the purchasing "fever" that will give rise to a turnover that will break the threshold of 4 billion euros .
It is 15% more than in 2022, Codacons estimates, for all ten days of the offers , which this year started on November 17th and will continue until November 27th.
A race for discounts that will see 60% of Italians go to shops or online sites so as not to miss out on the deal, with 57% of these choosing to buy clothing items, according to research by Confcommercio.
And consumers warn against possible cyber scams and fake discounts and offer valuable advice.
According to the Confcommercio study , it will be mainly women who crowd the shops, young people up to 34 years of age and those who reside in the North West and Southern regions will use online (63.2%) .
One Italian in two - underlines the traders' association - will take the opportunity to buy Christmas gifts in advance (53.7%), an increasing trend compared to last year (52.8%). As per tradition, at the top of the purchasing rankings will be clothing, followed with 44.7% for electronics or household appliances, with 35% for footwear and beauty products.
Codacons, however, estimates that the most popular products on Black Friday will be electronics and hi-tech , where approximately 65% of consumers intend to make at least one purchase while the health and beauty products sector will see 30% interest of buyers.
92.4% will spend up to 500 euros per person, with the average spend being around 236 euros, says the Confcommercio study according to which almost all will buy with immediate payment, mainly using ATMs (36.3%) and credit card (34.7%), 10% will use cash, the remainder will use other payment methods. 55% will shop online while 40% will go to local shops and shopping centres .
WATCH OUT FOR SCAM - And it is precisely the consumer associations - Codacons and Udicon - that take action to warn against possible scams by drawing up a handbook which warns to buy only from safe and protected Internet sites, check if they are safe sellers, always compare prices, pay attention to excessively high discounts, check the shipping date and check where the product is shipped from, keep a copy of the order and check that you can cancel it without paying penalties. On the web it is better to pay via PayPal or prepaid cards and never communicate personal data.
By law, goods can be returned when purchased outside physical stores within 14 days and if the product or service has a lack of conformity or production you are entitled to a replacement or refund.
(Unioneonline/vl)
