On Black Friday, Romanians spent almost EUR 5 million and made over 190,000 card transactions

Black Friday, the most important shopping event of the year, showed an increase in the use of digital payment methods, but also in the value of the products purchased by Romanians in 2022. Merchants have used technology creatively, adapted to the context and made contactless payment tools available to customers, both online and in physical stores.

According to the analysis made by Global Payments, the largest provider of payment services and technology in the world, on Black Friday (November 11th), Romanians made card payments of almost 5 million euros (24,394,295 lei), either online or in physical stores, through POS or the GP tom application. Compared to the previous shopping event, Romanians spent 43% more than in 2021, when the value of card payments was around 3.4 million euros (17,006,190 lei).

The number of card transactions was also considerably higher in 2022, with over 190 thousand payments being recorded through Global Payments terminals, 40% more than last year (136,127). The average amount paid with the Black Friday card was around 128 lei.

Most of the transactions were made in supermarkets and grocery stores, where Romanians spent almost 2 million euros in a single day (9,504,384 lei). DIY and building materials stores were the next in the top of merchants where card payments were made. Here, another 800 thousand euros were spent (4,057,565 lei), almost double the amount spent last year on Black Friday (+47%). In supermarkets and DIY stores, card payments have gone through POS or GP tom, the application that turns a smartphone into a mobile POS.

The value of online payments registered an increase of 64% compared to the previous edition of Black Friday, while the number of transactions registered an increase of only 30%. Basically, this shows that Romanians spent online an average amount higher than last year, when it was 321 lei, reaching 403 lei, on Black Friday, 2022. Most of the transactions were made in sports goods stores, followed by those with pet products. The value of online transactions was very close, with Romanians spending, on average, 300 lei on sporting goods and 287 lei on products for their non-speaking friends.

Romanians have gained trust in digital payment instruments, also making online transactions with very high values. They bought, for example, clothes worth over 8,000 lei, a watch of over 5,000 lei or phones worth over 1,800 lei.

A study conducted by Cognition revealed that when it comes to card payments, Romanian consumers seek to purchase high-quality products (65%), closely followed by products that offer rewards or benefits when purchasing, such as discounts or gifts (43.3%), the third place of preference (39%) being occupied by products for which they feel they have benefited from a high level of customer service, as the main determining factor of the acquisition.