Skip to footer

44 percent of Black Friday shoppers shop for themselves

Black Friday doesn't exactly scream charitable giving, but turns out the holiday spirit applies to Black Friday even less than you'd think. 44 percent of Black Friday shoppers purchase primarily for themselves, a recent DealNews survey shows. 

|
Chris O'Meara/AP Photo/File
Shoppers walk through the International Mall on Black Friday last year. Many Black Friday shoppers shop primarily for themselves, according to a dealnews.com survey
  • By Marcy Bonebright Guest blogger

While Black Friday shopping doesn't exactly scream charitable giving, tradition suggests that Black Friday dollars are spent on a pretty good cause — buying holiday gifts for our loved ones. So we were somewhat surprised to discover that a whole bunch of you guys are turning the convention on its head and snatching up the greater portion of Black Friday loot for yourselves! In fact, in a recent DealNews survey, 44% of respondents said they'd mostly be purchasing goods for themselves on Black Friday.

Men Lead the Black Friday Self-Purchasing Pack

There's a serious gender gap when it comes to buying presents for yourself on Black Friday. While it's true that 44% of our poll respondents said they'd mostly be shopping for themselves on Black Friday, the number swelled to 51% — more than half! — when we just looked at answers from guys.

The ladies, on the other hand, were more likely to say they'd be shopping for others; 59% said they were shopping for children or relatives, as opposed to just 25% who will be buying mainly for themselves. That said, the men were also more likely to be shopping for a spouse: 15% of males said they were shopping for a significant other, as opposed to just 7% of females who said the same. 

Age & Black Friday Shopping

Interestingly, those who are at the top of their own Black Friday gift list fell into two age brackets. Our younger (18 to 35) and older (55+) readers are looking out for number one, with 57% and 38% of respondents saying they'd be shopping for themselves, respectively. Middle-aged folks were feeling more charitable, with 33% saying they'd be shopping for their kids. Don't give them too much credit though; 31% of 36- to 54-year-olds said they'd be mostly shopping for themselves, so the children only came out on top in this age group by a razor-thin margin.

Readers, were you also surprised by the results of our Black Friday survey? We're still curious, are you shopping for yourself this Black Friday and proud of it? Or will you go against the grain and do all your shopping for others? Sound off in the comments below.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 44 percent of Black Friday shoppers shop for themselves
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2013/1106/44-percent-of-Black-Friday-shoppers-shop-for-themselves
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe