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Black Friday and Cyber Monday: The Stats That Matter

Written by Samantha Beckham on . Posted in INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS, PAID SOCIAL, SHOPPING AND FEED MANAGEMENT.

Over the past decade, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) have become renowned shopping events in the UK. However, in recent years, consumers argue the novelty has worn off. Research conducted by Which in 2019 discovered only one in 20 Black Friday deals are genuine with the event being labelled as “all hype”.

Looking at the results from BFCM and it seems the stats say different! Barclaycard reported a YoY transaction boost, while our eCommerce sister agency, Statement, reported a 47 percent increase in their clients’ sales. In comparison to 2018’s eight day event, this year’s promotional activity spanned a whopping 11 days and, with 2020 already in mind, it’s unlikely this will change. Next year, brands need to plan and act even earlier on their campaigns if they want to push ahead of the competition.

Speaking of campaigns, email and search took the top spots once again as the most effective referral channels for conversions. Additionally, mobile and tablets withheld their position as the most popular devices for shopping with this figure growing YoY for BFCM. Optimising these channels for 2020 should be on the top of your agenda. Together with Statement, we analysed this year’s BFCM performance to find out ‘Is the novelty of BFCM wearing off or is shopping stronger than ever?’. Here are the stats that matter…

With many of ours and Statement’s clients seeing an increase in sales compared to 2018, the speculation of Black Friday and Cyber Monday becoming a thing of the past is arguably untrue.

But one thing is clear – learn from 2019! Use these insights to fuel your 2020 eCommerce strategy, here are the top takeaways you should be taking into the new year:

  • Start running your campaigns earlier to get ahead of the competition
  • Ensure your eCommerce store, website and paid ads is mobile-friendly
  • Invest in email marketing campaigns and paid search advertising
  • Invest in Amazon Ads
  • Adopt targeted outreach and use YouTube influencers for product reviews
  • Run and optimise YouTube Ads
  • Capitalise on cross-border shopping with international delivery

How did you perform this year, are there any lessons you learnt from BFCM for 2020? Let us know!