Warning for UK shoppers planning to wait for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
Shoppers grow increasing less price sensitive when a sale runs over into the next month, new research from the UCD Michael Graduate Business School has found.
The team of researchers analysed over four million tweets between 2009-2020 mentioning Cyber Monday in the 30 days before the sale. They chose Cyber Monday as it either falls in the last week of November or the first week of December, offering a natural opportunity to observe the effects of a calendar boundary.
The team also conducted several experiments to uncover what aspects individuals consider most important in a laptop when a sale was at the end of the same month, compared to the beginning of the next month.
The researchers found that, even if a sale is happening “one week away”, it feels more psychologically distant if that week crosses into a new month.
This is because the shift in perceived distance changes what shoppers want: they lean toward big-picture, aspirational messages or product features rather than practical, safety-focused messages.
By comparison, when a sale occurs within the same month the event feels closer, and consumers are more cautious, focused on how a product works, and prioritise saving money.
“A consumer might catch themselves reasoning very differently about ‘buy it before the sale ends this month’ versus ‘the sale runs into next month,’ even if the actual deadline is the same distance away,” said David DeFranza, Researcher and Assistant Professor of Marketing at UCD Smurfit School
“Interestingly, consumers were generally less price sensitive when the sale ‘runs into next month’. Recognising this can help people notice when their own judgment is being nudged by an arbitrary date rather than real urgency or need,” he said.
Cyber Monday lands on 30 November this year, three days after Black Friday on 27 November. So both events fall within the same month. However, any Black Friday or Cyber Monday promotions that continue into December would cross the calendar boundary the study identified.
Similarly ‘early Black Friday’ deals which start in October are likely to have the same impact.
