December the 4th, 2024 – Suspected record Croatian Black Friday spending has been confirmed, with 154 million euros spent.
As Jadranka Dozan/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on the eve of this year’s Black Friday, all estimates were that this year’s “consumption holiday” would break records. The Tax Administration’s data revealed the extent of purchased goods and services paid directly by cards and cash, and it has confirmed record Croatian Black Friday spending. On Friday, 154 million euros in turnover was reported, which is around 19 million or 14 percent more than on last year’s Black Friday.
At the same time, retailers recorded almost six percent more receipts issued, the total value of which exceeded 122 million euros, which is 7.6 percent more than on the central date of last year’s campaign.
Promotions that build on Black Friday usually don’t last just one day. Over the past weekend, various products and services worth 332 million euros were paid for with debit and cash, or around 34 million (+11%) more. Of the total fiscalised turnover, 262 million euros were spent on consumption in stores over the past weekend, which is 16 million or 6.5 percent more than the comparable weekend in 2023.
The average amount of receipts issued in the trade sector over the past weekend stood at 21.85 euros, which is only 2.1 percent more than the average during the reference weekend last year. The Tax Administration’s data on fiscalisation doesn’t provide a full picture of this record Croatian Black Friday shopping fever because it often takes place online.
In physical stories during Black Friday campaigns, clothing and footwear, tech and cosmetic products are usually purchased the most. Discounts this year also typically ranged from 20 to 50 percent. In any case, this year’s growth in consumption was also favoured by a significantly higher increase in average wages compared to the increase in the general price level, i.e. inflation.
Throughout the whole of November, the total value of fiscalised receipts in all sectors exceeded 3.2 billion euros. That’s a 330 million euro or 11.5 percent increase compared to the same month last year. At the same time, almost 2.1 billion euros of turnover was processed through fiscal cash registers in the trade sector, or 185 million more than last year (+9.6 percent).
Black Friday discounts and sales also act as a prelude to Christmas spending in December. That is usually supported by Christmas bonuses and various other forms of non-taxable receipts that fatten up monthly household incomes at the end of the year.
During December last year, business from all sectors covered by the fiscalisation system recorded less than 3.2 billion euros in turnover on a slightly smaller number of receipts compared to 2022. That represented an increase of 13 percent compared to the year before. Given the slowdown in inflation, it’s realistic to expect that December 2024’s spending won’t grow at such a rate. As the growth in the value of receipts at the level of the whole of 2024 will be significantly lower than last year’s almost 19 percent, which brought the total turnover in 2023 to a total of over 40 billion euros.
