Black Friday and Cyber Monday: marketers' stats

"Black Friday" for shoppers is an occasion to buy some branded item at a good discount. This is shown by the data of Google search queries, where users most often search for electronics and household appliances. Thus, about 6 million queries were made during the 2020 promotion, which was 15% more than the average day from the end of October to the beginning of December. Source: protobyte

Clothing is also not neglected during Black Friday, with 1.5 million searches in the Fashion category, which is 30% more than the average for the day. Other categories are also not lagging behind: the statistics show how the number of requests for other branded goods only increases during the campaign. For example, in the jewellery industry, the figure increased by 48%. 

A unique offer generates demand. Show your customers a favourable offer that can set you apart from your competitors. Activate advertising, increase your media presence, use tools to highlight your adverts in search engines - do whatever it takes to get shoppers to choose you. 

When buying goods, many people use instalments and consumer loans. Especially during various events or promotions like "Black Friday 2021", the number of such requests increases. In 2021, the trend has not changed: 33% are interested in consumer loans and 27% in instalments. So take the opportunity to indicate in your advertising whether it is possible to buy goods on instalments or credit. 

What product is in demand?

During the Black Friday campaign, men purchased goods from the following categories: electronics, sporting goods, goods for construction and repair, games and software. Women chose goods for home, children, animals. They were interested in food and medicines, services of restaurants, food delivery, beauty salons and fitness centres.

If we look at all age categories, the most frequent purchases were goods from the "Clothing, Footwear and Accessories" and "Electronics" categories. The preferences of individual age categories are as follows: 

• 14 to 24 - Books, subscriptions to online services and services from the leisure and entertainment sector.
• 25 to 44 - Household appliances, home goods, sporting goods and children's products.
• 45 to 60 - Household appliances, home goods, services from the Travel category.

Shopping locations statistics in 2021

In 2021, surveyed users shopped with similar frequency at both marketplaces and online shops, as well as offline retail outlets. 

• Marketplaces - 45%.
• Online retailers - 44%
• Retail shops - 43% 

What is the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday? 

The fame of Black Friday shopping is such that it eventually spread through the weekend and into Cyber Monday.

Now here are some surprising highlights: Adobe ran a data tally on 100 major retailers, tracking 80% of online transactions. The news? By 10 p.m. Monday, consumers had spent the equivalent of 17% y/y growth* (roughly $840 million) (* y/y: year over year).

In this light, Cyber Monday was predicted to be the largest online shopping day in the U.S... In fact, Cyber Monday grew 16.8% y/y. Yes, Cyber Monday made U.S. history by becoming the largest online shopping day in the U.S. at $6.59 billion. That's up over a billion dollars from the previous year.

Use this statistic: Cyber Monday is quickly catching up to Black Friday, and it points to a developing trend.

Unplanned purchases

According to statistics, one in two shoppers knew exactly what they wanted to buy during Black Friday. Some also claimed to have a pre-prepared list of items they planned to buy. In fact - 68% ended up buying something they didn't plan to buy at all. The most spontaneous purchases are - books, sporting goods, entertainment and catering services. Two thirds of respondents bought gifts for family or friends last year during the Black Friday campaign. Women bought gifts more often, which amounted to 70%.

Even if your adverts or audience is not specifically targeted to your products, in this case, trust the algorithms - targeting on a short-term basis will help you. This solution will allow short-term interests to turn to actual offers. This way, people who have searched for your products or services over the past few days will be able to come to you. For example, you can run an advert about a sale on airline tickets to those who were interested in popular tourist destinations.