Data from this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping season are already in and the results are striking.
More than ever, consumers are shopping online and on mobile for holiday gifts--breaking previous records and outpacing in-store shopping.
According to the NRF, of the 151 million bargain-hungry consumers who shopped on Black Friday, a staggering 103 million did so online. And, Cyber Monday was the largest online shopping event in history, according to Adobe, representing $3 billion in sales.
Here at Criteo, we looked at our own data to analyze shopping by category and device. We looked at more than 19 million transactions from nearly 1,900 U.S. advertisers over the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Bounceback Tuesday (the day right after Cyber Monday where advertisers are actively reengaging shoppers to capture additional sales) shopping period.
We discovered some telling trends that may be meaningful for you as a retailer to consider as we head into the end of year holidays:
- Big box retailers saw more online sales on Black Friday than Cyber Monday. For the first time ever, big box retailers generated more online sales on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday--a significant 8.3 percent more.
- Mobile shopping was up throughout the period, spiking on Black Friday. From Thanksgiving to Bounceback Tuesday, 37 percent of all online purchases were made on mobile devices (vs. 30 percent in 2014). Mobile transactions peaked at 41 percent of all online sales on Black Friday.
- Smartphones dominated when it came to mobile transactions. In 2014, smartphones accounted for 16 percent of sales on Black Friday and 13 percent on Cyber Monday; those figures jumped to 26 percent and 19 percent this year.
- Apple’s operating system saw higher traction than Android devices. Apple iOS was the primary choice for consumers on both days, with iPads accounting for 12 percent of sales and iPhones capturing 17 percent. Android phones accounted for 9 percent of sales, while tablets took 2 percent across the two days.
- Bounceback Tuesday sales climbed considerably. Bounceback Tuesday generated 15 percent more sales this year than in 2014, with 35 percent of those sales coming from mobile devices. Proving that Bounceback Tuesday has emerged as a sales event, it saw online sales figures close to Black Friday and Cyber Monday--just three percent behind Black Friday sales, and 12 percent behind Cyber Monday.
With just a few crucial weeks left until Christmas, smart retailers will heed this data to optimize digital campaigns to capture last-minute purchases online and on mobile. There is still time to make last minute adjustments to your digital marketing strategy, which includes doubling down on your mobile investments in order to boost sales and end 2015 with a big bang!
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