Black Friday and Cyber Monday are bigger than ever. The so-called retail apocalypse might not be so apocalyptic after all – especially for retailers that have beefed up their online presence.
According to Adobe Analytics, Americans spent $19.62 billion online over the five-day period from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday — 15 percent more than they spent during the same time frame in 2016. The top two days for online shopping were Cyber Monday (more than 81 million visitors) and Black Friday (more than 66 million). What can retailers learn from this explosive growth? Plenty:
- The holiday shopping is beginning early. We noticed an uptick in holiday-shopping searches in early November, which suggested an earlier start to the holiday shopping season. Shoppers created momentum for retailers coming out the gate. Retailers that dialed up their online advertising earlier were in a better position to win.
- Black Friday is more than a day. Black Friday is no longer a day, but a multi-day phenomenon, with retailers promoting online deals the entire week of Thanksgiving. In fact, major retailers were hosting Black Friday deals online before Thanksgiving week. Retailers are making Black Friday an element of a broader shopping experience.
- Thanksgiving is becoming a big shopping day. As Adobe reported, Thanksgiving Day saw an 18.3 percent increase in online spending to $2.87 billion. In addition, a Foursquare report suggested that brick-and-mortar stores open on Thanksgiving – and open earlier in the day – would have an advantage over stores that were closed. Stores that promoted Thanksgiving Day sales, both online and offline, were likely to benefit as consumers combine shopping with eating on Turkey Day.
- Play ball with Amazon. Amazon said that Cyber Monday was its biggest sales day ever. All told, Amazon will probably capture half of all online holiday sales during the 2017 holiday shopping season. Amazon is running the table. Retailers should stop waiting around for Amazon to disrupt them and start learning to live in Amazon’s world. Earlier this year, True Interactive published two blog posts to help businesses do just that: “Tips for Incorporating Amazon into Your E-Commerce Strategy” and “Amazon Takes a Bite Out of Search.”
We expect a robust consumer spend during the holidays. Note that with Christmas Day occurring on a Monday, shoppers will accelerate their spend to avoid the problem of having to ship last-minute purchases over the weekend. Meanwhile there is still plenty of shopping to be done. Businesses that have planned ahead will win. It’s never too early to start planning for the 2018 holiday shopping season. To optimize your online spend all-year round, contact True Interactive. We’re here to help.
Image source: https://stocksnap.io/photo/RZWM4T2UAD
