We all love a good deal but it turns out that’s not the only reason people are shopping sale events like Black Friday. Finder’s survey of 1,201 Irish adults reveals 1 in 10 will shop end-of-year sales like Black Friday Deals because they’re bored. So why else are Irish adults turning to the sales? And equally – why are those choosing not to shop making that choice? Let’s unpack the stats.

Who is most likely to shop?

Irish adults are planning to shop up a storm at the end-of-year sales this year. In fact 27% of Irish adults, or an estimated 1 million people, plan to make a purchase at the sales.

Women are slightly more likely than men to partake in the shopping event, with 28% of women saying they plan to make a purchase compared to 26% of men.

In terms of age, 34- to 44-year-olds are the most likely to partake in the event, with 34% of people in this age group saying they’re shopping the sales. At the other end of the spectrum, just 23% of those aged 65 and above say the same.

Why are Irish adults shopping the sales?

We all have our reasons for shopping the big sales events, but it turns out that the most popular reason of all is simply to stave off boredom, with 11% of Irish adults planning to shop the sales for this reason. Meanwhile, 9% of adults are shopping because they think they’re getting a good deal and 8% are shopping but couldn’t give a specific reason why.

Men are more likely than women to be a “procrasti-shopper”, with 12% of men planning to shop away their boredom at the sales, compared to just 10% of women. Meanwhile, women are more likely to shop because they think they’ll find a great deal, with 10% of women giving this reason compared to just 8% of men.

Why aren’t Irish adults shopping the Black Friday sales?

It doesn’t take too much imagination to wonder why someone would want to buy an item for less. So why wouldn’t they?

Well, it turns out that 10% of Irish adults think that retailers inflate prices before sales, making them want to opt out of the sales altogether.

An additional 4% say the products they want aren’t discounted, while 7% say they have never heard of Black Friday.

Which country has the most Black Friday shoppers?

Black Friday can bring to mind hoards of American bargain-hunters breaking through the front doors of stores across the country. So, it’s unsurprising the US tops the list for the number of people searching Black Friday deals in 2021.

The US has the highest search interest in Black Friday, making up roughly 21% of search volume for the shopping holiday, according to our analysis of historical search data for four key terms related to the shopping holiday in 31 countries. (See our methodology for a breakdown of our analysis.) Search interest within the US in 2021 is also up compared to 2020, jumping roughly 7%.

Germany takes silver for search interest in Black Friday, making up about 13% of the search interest in those 31 countries. And interest is way up in Germany, jumping roughly 18% year-on-year.

Taking the final spot on the podium is Brazil, which makes up around 11% of the search volume. Search interest in Brazil saw modest gains in 2021 of roughly 4%.

Chile may have only ranked 22nd in terms of search volume but saw the largest year-on-year gain in search interest (41%), whereas interest in Italy went the other way, with a precipitous drop of roughly 74%.

Want to know how your country stacks up? View the 31 countries searching for Black Friday in our map below, or use the table in the tab to see where your country ended up over the last three years:

• Top countries searching for Black Friday - map
• Top countries searching for Black Friday table 2019-2021

Who are the most popular retailers in Ireland?

Search volume data from Ahrefs suggests that one of the most popular places to go for Black Friday deals is Amazon. Other popular retailers searched for include Argos, Debenhams and Smyths.

What are people looking to buy on Black Friday?

In terms of specific products and brands, data suggests that people are looking to bag deals on products like laptops and iPads. Popular brands include Apple, Nike and Dyson.

• Methodology

  Finder surveyed a convenience sample of 1,201 Irish adults via Google surveys on 5–7 October 2021. Google applied weighting to the survey results to be representatively proportionate to the general Internet population. The details of Google’s survey methodology can be found here.

  For the search data, Finder has been collecting search data for most of the 31 countries since 2019 from multiple sources, including SEMRush, Ahrefs and Google. To get the overall ranking, Finder used a combination of the term “Black Friday,” in conjunction with ancillary searches that included either year (i.e. 2020 or 2021) and the local equivalent search for “Black Friday deals.”

  For the list of retailers, Finder looked at the top 1,000 search results as per Ahrefs to get a list of retailers, products and brands which were dominant in the results. Because of the large volume, various iterations of spelling mistakes and the limited scope (i.e. top 1,000 search results), we chose to present the results in no particular order.

• Black Friday 2020

  ‘Tis the season to spend and save, with festive sales events like Black Friday and Boxing Day fast approaching. So how many people in Ireland are planning to hit the sales this year? And how much of a discount will entice them to shop? We polled 1,235 Irish adults to find out.

  In this guide:

  • Women are more interested in sales shopping than men
  • Gen Z are the most likely to be enticed by a discounted item
  • Which country is most likely to be enticed by the sales?
  • Which country has the most Black Friday shoppers?
  • Who are the most popular retailers in Ireland?
  • Which are the most popular retailers in the world?
  • What are people looking to buy on Black Friday?
  • Methodology

  60% of Irish people will be shopping this year’s festive sales if the price is right. This is the equivalent of 2.2 million people. On average, it’ll take a discount of 45% to make Irish customers purchase an item.

  Women more interested in sales shopping than men

  Women are slightly more likely to be enticed by the sales than men, with 65% of Irish women saying they’ll shop for an item for the right price compared to 60% of men who said the same.

  However, men are tempted by a smaller discount. On average, it’ll take a discount of 49% to make women purchase an item, while men will purchase an item if it’s discounted by just 43%.

  Gen Z most likely to be enticed by a discounted item

  18-24-year-olds are the most likely to purchase a discounted item in the sales compared to all other age brackets. 72% of people in this age range say they’ll purchase an item on sale for the right price, while just 63% of 35-44-year-olds and 57% of 45-54-year-olds said the same.

  However, again, it’ll take more to tempt this crowd, with 18-24-year-olds saying they’ll only make a purchase if it’s discounted by at least 51%. Meanwhile, all other age brackets say they’ll purchase an item if it’s discounted by 42-46%.

  Which country is most likely to be enticed by the sales?

  Of the 12 countries included in this study, Ireland ranks fifth, tied with Hong Kong and Germany, for the highest percentage of people who will be enticed by the sales (60%). Overall, South Africans are most likely to shop the holiday sales events (70%), followed by France (66%). Meanwhile, Italy has the smallest number of sales shoppers (50%), followed by New Zealand (53%) and the UK (56%).

  However, in terms of the discount required to entice shoppers, Spanish adults actually require the highest discount of 60% off to motivate a purchase. People from France and Mexico also require steep discounts to entice them to shop, at 59% off and 58% off respectively. Meanwhile, Canadians say they’ll need the smallest average discount at just 42% off, followed by people in Hong Kong (44% off) and Ireland (45% off).

  Which country has the most Black Friday shoppers?

  Black Friday is synonymous with hoards of Americans breaking through the front doors of stores all across the country. But as far as the Internet is concerned, the US no longer has the top spot for Black Friday shoppers.

  Brazil is the country with the highest search interest in Black Friday, according to an analysis of historical search data from SEMrush. Interest in the shopping holiday peaked and hit new highs in November 2020, jumping up 22.36% from the previous year. Brazil also accounts for 13.20% of all global searches for the term “Black Friday”.

  The US doesn’t place silver either: that post is taken by France. Like Brazil, France also saw a jump in search interest year-on-year, jumping 22.22% between November 2019 and November 2020. France makes up 10.78% of all searches for the term “Black Friday”, which is quite impressive, considering that France only accounts for 0.84% of the population.

  The US doesn’t even get the bronze on its own, sharing the podium with Germany for the second year in a row, with search interest in both nations increasing by the same amount over the last 12 months (22.28%). Both nations made up 8.82% of the search volume for the term “Black Friday”, but Germany is far outperforming in terms of its population size, with Germany accounting for 1.07% of the world’s population, compared to the 4.25% that the US represents.

  Want to know how Ireland stacks up? View the top 20 countries searching for Black Friday in our map below, or use the table in the tab to see where your country ended up:

  • Infographic
  • Data table

  Rank	Country	Number of monthly Black Friday searches
  1	Brazil	673,000
  2	France	550,000
  3	Germany	450,000
  3	United States	450,000
  5	Italy	368,000
  6	United Kingdom	301,000
  7	Spain	246,000
  8	Netherlands	165,000
  9	Canada	135,000
  9	Poland	135,000
  11	Sweden	110,000
  12	India	90,500
  13	Australia	74,000
  13	Belgium	74,000
  13	Mexico	74,000
  13	Switzerland	74,000
  13	Turkey	74,000
  18	Argentina	60,500
  18	Chile	60,500
  18	Colombia	60,500
  18	Finland	60,500
  18	Greece	60,500
  18	Portugal	60,500
  24	Denmark	49,500
  24	Romania	49,500
  24	Vietnam	49,500
  27	South Africa	40,500
  27	Austria	40,500
  27	Hungary	40,500
  30	Norway	33,100
  31	Czech Republic (Czechia)	27,100
  31	Peru	27,100
  33	Croatia	18,100
  33	Ireland	18,100
  33	Israel	18,100
  36	Malaysia	14,800
  36	Singapore	14,800
  38	Hong Kong	12,100
  38	Japan	12,100
  38	New Zealand	12,100
  38	Saudi Arabia	12,100
  38	Slovakia	12,100
  43	Egypt	9,900
  43	Indonesia	9,900
  43	Morocco	9,900
  43	Nigeria	9,900
  43	Pakistan	9,900
  43	Philippines	9,900
  43	Serbia	9,900
  50	Bulgaria	8,100
  50	Russia	8,100
  50	Thailand	8,100
  50	United Arab Emirates	8,100
  54	Ecuador	6,600
  54	Ukraine	6,600
  54	Venezuela	6,600
  57	Algeria	5,400
  57	Slovenia	5,400
  57	Taiwan	5,400
  57	Uruguay	5,400
  61	Bangladesh	4,400
  61	Dominican Republic	4,400
  61	Lithuania	4,400
  61	Tunisia	4,400
  65	Cyprus	3,600
  65	South Korea	3,600
  67	Bolivia	2,900
  67	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2,900
  67	Jordan	2,900
  67	Luxembourg	2,900
  71	Estonia	2,400
  71	Georgia	2,400
  71	Ghana	2,400
  71	Guatemala	2,400
  71	Sri Lanka	2,400
  71	Paraguay	2,400
  77	Azerbaijan	1,900
  77	El Salvador	1,900
  77	Kuwait	1,900
  77	Zambia	1,900
  81	Bahrain	1,600
  81	Costa Rica	1,600
  81	Kazakhstan	1,600
  81	Latvia	1,600
  81	Malta	1,600
  86	Albania	1,300
  86	Iceland	1,300
  86	Jamaica	1,300
  86	Lebanon	1,300
  86	Mauritius	1,300
  86	Moldova	1,300
  86	Mozambique	1,300
  86	Nepal	1,300
  86	Oman	1,300
  86	Honduras	1,300
  96	Armenia	1,000
  96	Cambodia	1,000
  96	Zimbabwe	1,000
  99	Angola	880
  99	Senegal	880
  101	Namibia	720
  101	Nicaragua	720
  101	Trinidad and Tobago	720
  104	Belarus	590
  104	Botswana	590
  104	Cameroon	590
  104	Libya	590
  104	Madagascar	590
  109	DR Congo	480
  109	Mongolia	480
  109	Montenegro	480
  112	Haiti	390
  113	Brunei	320
  113	The Bahamas	320
  115	Cabo Verde	260
  115	Ethiopia	260
  117	Guyana	210
  118	Afghanistan	170
  119	Belize	140

  Who are the most popular retailers in Ireland?

  Search volume data from Ahrefs that suggests one of the most popular places to go for Black Friday deals among Irish adults is Currys. Other popular retailers searched for in Ireland include Argos, Harvey Norman and Amazon.

  Ireland’s most searched retailers

  Retailer	Black Friday deals
  Argos	Argos Black Friday Deals
  Harvey Norman	All Black Friday Deals
  Currys PC World	Currys PC World Black Friday Deals
  Amazon	Amazon Black Friday Deals
  Smyths	All Black Friday Deals
  Debenhams	Debenhams Black Friday Deals
  Dunnes	All Black Friday deals
  Boots	Boots Black Friday Deals
  Tesco	Tesco Black Friday deals
  Next	All Black Friday deals

  What are people looking to buy on Black Friday?

  In terms of specific products and brands, Ahrefs data suggests that Irish people are looking to bag deals for tech this coming Black Friday. Some of the most popular products include gadgets such as the Switch and the PS4, while popular brands include Nintendo, Nike and Zara.

  Which are the most popular retailers in the world?

  It may come as no surprise that three of the most popular retailers that people are searching for on Black Friday are Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy. This is based on the top 1,000 “Black Friday” related searches from Ahrefs for the 20 countries we analysed.

  All of the top 10 retailers were in the top 10 in 2019 too.

  10 most commonly searched for retailers for Black Friday worldwide

  • Walmart
  • Amazon
  • Best Buy
  • Target
  • MediaMarkt

  • Kohl’s
  • Home Depot
  • GameStop
  • Lowe’s
  • Costco

  Mthodologdy

  Finder polled 18,933 adults across 12 countries. All countries were polled in October via Google surveys. The sample sizes are as follows:

  • Canada, nationally representative, 1,201 respondents
  • France, nationally representative, 1,505 respondents
  • Germany, nationally representative, 2,004 respondents
  • Hong Kong, convenience sampling, 1,204 respondents
  • Ireland, convenience sampling, 1,235 respondents
  • Italy, convenience sampling, 1,536 respondents
  • Spain, nationally representative, 1,509 respondents
  • Mexico, nationally representative, 2,002 respondents
  • New Zealand, convenience sampling, 1,210 respondents
  • South Africa, convenience sampling, 1,524 respondents
  • The United Kingdom, nationally representative, 2,003 respondents
  • The United States, nationally representative, 2,000 respondents

  Top keyword searches were determined through data pulls from SEMrush and Ahrefs.

• Black Friday 2019

  Black Friday Statistics 2019

  Ireland ranks 34th for Black Friday search interest

  Planning to hit the sales this Black Friday? You’re not alone. A recent survey found that 34% or roughly 1.3 million Irish adults plan to shop on 29 November. The younger you are, the more likely you are to shop. Roughly two-fifths (41%) of those aged 18-24 plan to shop this Black Friday, while just 30% of those 65+ said the same.

  But how are we shopping and what are we buying? Read on to find out.

  In-store Black Friday shopping is still more popular than online deals

  While the majority of Black Friday shoppers plan to physically hit the streets, close to two-fifths (39%) of bargain hunters say they’ll shop exclusively online. This should be good news for those who hate crowds, with 21% of shoppers not willing to queue for more than 15 minutes. Only about 7% of shoppers are willing to wait up to three hours and roughly 14% said they’d queue overnight for a bargain.

  Is Black Friday worth it?

  A second poll found 52% of Irish adults think Black Friday sales are good value, with millennials the most likely to say so. However, of that 52%, 24% don’t always think it’s worth the hassle of shopping. Across the board, just under 20% of respondents think retailers inflate prices and then discount them, while 9% say the products they’re interested in aren’t discounted.

  Meanwhile, respondents aged 55-64 are the most sceptical – over a quarter (26%) of the total respondents in this age bracket said they think retailers inflate prices before discounting them for Black Friday.

  Which country has the most Black Friday shoppers?

  Black Friday is synonymous with hordes of Americans busting through the front doors of stores across the country. But as far as the Internet is concerned, the US is no longer the top spot for Black Friday shoppers.

  Brazil is the country with the highest search interest in Black Friday, according to an analysis of historical search data from SEMrush. Interest in the shopping holiday peaked in November 2018, jumping 83% from the previous year, and remains at the same level as at October 2019.

  The US doesn’t place silver either. That post is taken by France. France is also among the biggest climbers in terms of interest in the shopping period, with search volume jumping 306.76% between November 2017 and November 2018. Since 2018, interest in the retail holiday has grown a further 49.5% as at October 2019.

  The US doesn’t even get the bronze on its own, sharing the podium with Germany. While France and the US had the same search volume in November 2018, it’s the difference in this year’s October search volume that separates the two. The US saw its search volume grow by 22.26% from November 2018 to October 2019 versus a 49.5% growth for France over the same period.

  Interestingly, this is not the first time search volume in the US has hit peak levels. Interest was last this high back in November 2013. Since then, interest in Black Friday has waned.

  On the other hand, interest in Black Friday from German shoppers is at an all-time high, with search volume increasing 49.59% between November 2018 and October 2019.

  Ireland ranks 34th for Black Friday search interest. Search volume has increased by 22% from December 2016 to October 2019.

  View the top 20 countries searching for Black Friday in our map below, or use the table in the tab:

  Which are the most popular retailers in the world?

  It may come as no surprise that the most popular place to score a Black Friday deal is Walmart, the online retail giant is by far the most commonly searched retailer across the 20 countries we analysed. In fact, people are 43.69% more likely to search for a Black Friday deal from Walmart than from the second most common retailer.

  Amazon puts up a good fight, coming in as the second most popular retailer in the world to search for a Black Friday deal, with Best Buy coming in third.

  10 most commonly searched retailers for Black Friday worldwide

  Rank	Retailer
  1	Walmart
  2	Amazon
  3	Best Buy
  4	Target
  5	MediaMarkt
  6	Kohl’s
  7	Home Depot
  8	GameStop
  9	Lowe’s
  10	Costco

  But which are the most popular retailers in Ireland?

  Ireland’s top three Black Friday retailers don’t follow world trends, with only two of the top 10 global results making the top 10 most searched retailers in Ireland. Specifically, the top three most searched for retailers in Ireland were Argos, Harvey Norman and Currys.

  10 most commonly searched retailers for Black Friday in Ireland

  Rank	Retailer	Black Friday deals
  1	Argos	Argos Black Friday Deals
  2	Harvey Norman	All Black Friday Deals
  3	Currys PC World	Currys PC World Black Friday Deals
  4	Amazon	Amazon Black Friday Deals
  5	Smyths	All Black Friday Deals
  6	Debenhams	Debenhams Black Friday Deals
  7	GameStop	All Black Friday deals
  8	Boots	Boots Black Friday Deals
  9	ZARA	All Black Friday deals
  10	River Island	River Island Friday Deals

  Most popular product categories targeted on Black Friday

  With retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and MediaMarkt topping the list for the most popular places to score a Black Friday bargain, is it any wonder that tech and electronics is the No. 1 type of deal people are searching for?

  As far as generic terms go, people are most interested in finding discounted TVs, laptops and phones. Outside of tech products, general fashion and home improvement products are also popular.

  Most popular Black Friday product categories in Ireland

  Ireland toed the Black Friday line, with tech products topping the list, along with general retail and fashion.

  Most popular brands searched for Black Friday

  Tech products topped the list in large part because people are most fervently searching for popular devices from brands such as Nintendo, PlayStation and Apple.

  Most popular products searched in Ireland on Black Friday

  Ireland followed global trends, with the majority of high-volume Black Friday searches relating to tech products and brands such as the Nintendo Switch and PS4.

  What is Black Friday?

  Black Friday is one of the busiest retail holidays, falling on the Friday following the US holiday of Thanksgiving. This year, Black Friday is 29 November 2019.

  Black Friday past, present and future

  Year	Thanksgiving (Thursday)	Black Friday
  2014	27 November 2014	28 November 2014
  2015	26 November 2015	27 November 2015
  2016	24 November 2016	25 November 2016
  2017	23 November 2017	24 November 2017
  2018	22 November 2018	23 November 2018
  2019	28 November 2019	29 November 2019
  2020	26 November 2020	27 November 2020
  2021	25 November 2021	26 November 2021
  2022	24 November 2022	25 November 2022
  2023	23 November 2023	24 November 2023
  2024	28 November 2024	29 November 2024

  How did it start? How much has it grown in popularity?

  The Black Friday shopping event has its roots in Philadelphia, where police officers used it derogatorily to describe the chaotic shopping day that follows Thanksgiving, which was typically marred by crowds and shoplifters, according to History.com.

  It wasn’t until the late 1980s that Black Friday found mainstream popularity as a day for the general public to find a good deal. While overall sales are up for Black Friday by and large, its popularity has dipped over the last few years, with retailers reporting drops in physical sales.

  Online retailers are the big winner on Black Friday, resulting in the syphoning off of a subsequent sale day for online shopping called Cyber Monday, which happens the Monday following Black Friday.

  Cyber Monday past, present and future

  Year	Black Friday	Cyber Monday
  2014	28 November 2014	1 December 2014
  2015	27 November 2015	30 November 2015
  2016	25 November 2016	28 November 2016
  2017	24 November 2017	27 November 2017
  2018	23 November 2018	26 November 2018
  2019	29 November 2019	2 December 2019
  2020	27 November 2020	30 November 2020
  2021	26 November 2021	29 November 2021
  2022	25 November 2022	28 November 2022
  2023	24 November 2023	27 November 2023
  2024	29 November 2024	2 December 2024

  What are the other big shopping days?

  • Prime Day
  • Boxing Day
  • Singles Day

  Methodology

  Search data
  Search data: We used SEMrush to identify the top 20 countries and historical trends. We used Ahrefs to identify the current top 1000 key words for each country in the top 20. Popular retailers, shopping categories and specific products were analysed in English. Throughout analysis, assumptions were made about search intent. For example, search volume for “Media Markt” was assumed to be for “MediaMarkt”.

  Survey data: We conducted two Google surveys of 1,200 Irish adults in October of 2019 using a convenience sampling method.

  For media inquiries:

  

  Susannah Binsted
  Public Relations Manager
  susannah.binsted@finder.com
  

  

  Madeleine Gracie
  Communications and Campaign Specialist
  madeleine.gracie@finder.com
  

  Image: Getty

Image: Getty