[November 16, 2017]

BlitzResults Survey Reveals: Majority of Customers Have Already Been Fooled on Black Friday

Think it pays off to go shopping on Black Friday (News - Alert)? According to a survey conducted by education portal BlitzResults.com, 81% of all consumers state that they have been tricked by dealers in the past.

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Consumer study conducted by BlitzResults.com: 4813 consumers were asked in an online panel. Confidence level 95 %. Image may be published free of charge only in connection with the publishing of press release. Credit: www.blitzresults.com (Photo: Business Wire)

"Lure offers", allegedly "sold out" items, mind-boggling discounts and fine print are the tricks to attract customers during Black Friday. A survey by BlitzResults of 4,813 consumers examined which tricks the dealers regularly use to rip off customers. The study also reveals that the majority of customers have been victims of unfair sales practices. "Lure offers" are the most dominant form of rip-offs, followed by exaggerated discounts.

High double-digit discounts sound like music in our ears. But customers beware: the discounts advertised are often based on the manufacturers' suggested retail price (MSRP) or are even fantasy sums. "These sales prices are actually never paid and this applies in particular to the electronics sector", says Tim Lilling, researcher at BlitzResults.com." The use of these prices as reference point is misleading for customers and is used to imply extreme discounts. The research shows that discounts are almost 50% less when compared to a non-reduced offer from another retailer."

Shipping costs, handling fees, minimum order values or incomprehensibly formulated discounts often shrink the originally promised double-digit savings into a meager remainder. Unsure whether an offer is top? Use the following discount calculators https://www.blitzresults.com/en/discount/ to make smart buying decisions.

The detailed results of the study:

• 81% of all customers state that they already been victim of a "lure offer", ending up buying more expensive items than planned.
• 67% of all customers say they ended up buying more things then they had initially planned to buy.
• 64% of all customers say that they bought a different item because the product they were looking for was already sold out.

The comprehensive study can be found here:

https://www.blitzresults.com/files/blitzresults_study_black_friday_discounts.pdf

About BlitzResults.com

BlitzResults is an open source educational platform with focus on science, consumer affairs and technology. A variety of tools, converters and checklists help users to calculate optimal results. All tools were created in collaboration with educational institutions and every info-graphic is licensed under creative commons and may be used free of charge in educational and private sectors.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171116005103/en/

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