Fewer than half of shoppers believe Black Friday deals are genuine
Just 54% of consumers trust that prices advertised on Black Friday are genuinely lower than usual. According to a Boston Consulting Group survey, one in five shoppers is actively skeptical of the deals, while 22% would spend less or skip the year-end sales events altogether.
- Some 54% of consumers trust that Black Friday prices are genuine.
- One in five shoppers is actively skeptical of advertised discounts.
- Retailer reputation and money-back guarantees each achieved a 65% net trust score.
- Some 56% of shoppers plan to use AI this year, while social media’s role as a source of inspiration fell to 46%.
- Influencer recommendations achieved a net trust score of just 3%.
Convincing shoppers that deals are genuine is getting harder
Boston Consulting Group’s sixth annual Black Friday survey is based on responses from 10 220 consumers across ten countries. The report examined shopper expectations and habits ahead of Singles’ Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The research found that consumers’ confidence in the authenticity of sale prices has weakened. Only 54% believe that prices advertised on Black Friday are genuinely lower than usual, while one in five respondents is actively skeptical of these offers.
Promotional fatigue is also growing. Some 22% of respondents plan to spend less or skip the year-end sales events altogether because they believe discounts are available throughout the year. Meanwhile, the minimum discount shoppers expect to qualify as a good deal has fallen slightly to around 30%, from 32% measured in 2025.
Reputation and verifiable information matter most
BCG measured trust-building using a net trust score. This shows the percentage of respondents who view a given factor as building trust, minus the share who believe it reduces trust.
A retailer’s reputation and a money-back guarantee each achieved a net trust score of 65%, making them the strongest factors. Verified customer reviews scored 59%, while a clear comparison between the regular and discounted prices scored 58%.
Persuasion-based tactics performed considerably worse. Messages warning of real-time inventory shortages or time pressure achieved a net trust score of 8%, AI-generated review summaries scored 4%, and influencer recommendations just 3%.
Nate Shenck, BCG managing director, senior partner and one of the report’s authors, said shoppers no longer automatically accept Black Friday discounts. “Retailers cannot simply use discounts to get around this problem. The question this season is how to earn shoppers’ trust,” he said in the release.
AI is becoming more important for comparing products and offers
The survey found that social media’s role has declined when shoppers are looking for inspiration. Its use for this purpose fell by nine percentage points to 46%, declining in all ten markets studied.
At the same time, the use of AI increased in every country surveyed. This year, 56% of shoppers plan to use AI, an eight-percentage-point increase compared with 2025. Some 86% of users find it helpful, while 78% say AI makes them more likely to complete a purchase.
Consumers mainly rely on AI to compare prices from multiple retailers, cited by 39%, and to compare product features, for which 37% use it. Transactional tasks such as filling in checkout details remain less common uses for now.
Jessica Distler, BCG managing director, partner and one of the report’s authors, said shoppers facing promotional fatigue are using AI to find and compare offers. According to the company, this means retailers must pay as much attention to making offers discoverable and verifiable as they do to the discounts themselves.
