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One of the biggest sales days of the year is here - Black Friday.

Historically Kiwis have spent millions on the shopping day, but this year could prove different as the Cost of Living Crisis bites.

PriceSpy’s Black Friday Report showed the number of Kiwis intending to shop this Friday was down 12 per cent on 2021 figures, meaning one in 10 people that planned to shop on the day last year don’t intend to this year.

Despite this, data did point out that while less people will be spending, the average amount the people who do shop will spend has increased significantly to a whopping $731.40.

“It’s a good sign for retailers and it also looks like more people are shopping in-store this year compared to last year,” PriceSpy NZ country manager Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett told Focus.

A number of big retailers started their Black Friday sales up to two weeks ago.

Shops like PB Tech and furniture store Nick Scali have even dubbed it a Black month going as far as offering deals for the whole of November.

“We’re seeing that holiday season spread and spread and spread,” Mastercard country manager Ruth Riviere said.

PriceSpy says while fewer shoppers intend to turn out, the average amount they plan to spend is up. Photo / Paul Taylor

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“A couple of years ago, you would’ve seen that weekend before Christmas, people panic buying and doing a huge amount of shopping then and now we’re seeing with things like Black Friday, Cyber Monday even Singles Day now coming in that that holiday spending is stretching across a much border time period.”

Small business owner Sharna Salthouse, meanwhile, is heading into her first Christmas sale season after starting up her online store Pressing Nails last year.

The 22-year-old says it’s been a challenging process deciding how to best approach it.

“It’s a little bit nerve-racking,” Salthouse said.

“I saw everyone posting their sale already and I thought ‘oh no have I missed the moment of posting it?’ I was Googling ‘what’s the best Black Friday sales to offer?’ trying to find information.

“I decided to just go with what’s worked for us and we find exclusivity and quite short sales are best so we’re doing a one-day sale.”

Pressing Nails owner Sharna Salthouse says Black Friday is one of her highest sales days of the year. Photo / Supplied

With growing interest ahead of the day from her many followers online, she hopes it’ll provide the much-needed boost in sales for small businesses across Aotearoa.

“I get so many people message me every day asking about our upcoming Black Friday sale,” she said.

“Black Friday is just getting bigger and bigger in New Zealand and I haven’t seen a single small business that hasn’t already started a sale or is teasing one coming soon.

“I think people are just trying to drive sales up. As a small business our costs are going up, postage is always going up, freight is always going up, getting stuff to New Zealand, so I think everyone just wants to get as much turnover before Christmas as possible so just going hard into the sales.”

So what about the deals?

Last year, 1 in 10 products listed on PriceSpy delivered what’s called a fake sale when the price is increased in the weeks leading up to Black Friday and then ‘reduced ‘on the sale day.

But according to data looking into this year, consumers should expect big - and legit - discounts.

“Black Friday is still the cheapest day of the year to buy if we look at the average discount percentages so definitely there are good deals to be found,” Matinvesi-Bassett.

“Usually it is electronics that are trending, game sand consoles usually have the biggest discounts.”

Meanwhile, Kiwis are being reminded of the usual tips around price comparison, research and the dangers of shopping online.

“The most important thing is really to compare prices so you know the deal you’re buying is a good deal,” Matinvesi-Bassett.

Riviere added, “safety and security should be top of mind for both retailers and consumers so we suggest people only shop at websites that they trust and think about keeping their details secure.”