Black Friday is one of the biggest Ecommerce days of the year in the USA and around the world. It takes place following Thanksgiving.
Retailers and brands offer sweet discounts on their products to leverage the shopping frenzy at the start of this holiday shopping season. In this article, I have compiled the latest trends, sales stats and Black Friday statistics to set context about the day.
Black Friday Overview: How much do shoppers spend?
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 158.3 million potential shoppers are expected to purchase either in stores or online this holiday season.
Let’s look at the top stats to establish the relevance of Black Friday:
1. Black Friday online shopping sales hit $9.3billion, which is an all-time high. (Adobe, 2021)
2. Around 32% of consumers were likely to not buy anything on Black Friday 2020 than in 2019. (IMI International, 2020)
3. The Black Friday 2020 revenue amounts to around $188.2 billion. (Adobe, 2020)
4. Between 2018 and 2019, shoppers in the US spent an average of $2 billion. (Nosto, 2020)
5. About 50.4% of Black Friday shoppers are women. (Much Needed, 2020)
6.2020 was a record-breaking year for online shopping as 100 million consumers shopped during black Friday sales. (NRF, 2020)
7. An average adult plans to spend around $400 on Black Friday sales. (Spendmenot, 2021)
8. Millennials were the biggest spenders on Black Friday in 2019. (PYMNTS, 2020)
9. On Black Friday, Millennials spend an average of 510 dollars buying gifts. In 2018, they spent about 383 dollars on the same. (Much Needed, 2019)
- 94% of Millennials had planned to spend $11 billion on electronics. (Finder,2021)
- They will spend the least amount of money on beauty and cosmetic products which equals $2.8 billion. This is $3.1 billion less than Gen Xers planned spendings on beauty and cosmetics. (Finder, 2021)
- Baby boomers had planned to spend around $12.2 billion on travel alone. (Finder, 2021)
Black Friday Conversion Rates And Cart Abandonment Statistics
Image: Black Friday conversion rate and abandonment rates across countries
There was an increase in the conversion rates in 2020 during the Black Friday sales.
1. In the United Kingdom, the average conversion rate was over 5%. This was the biggest conversion rate globally.
2. Australia was the second-best market in terms of conversion rate. It witnessed a conversion rate of 3.06% in 2020.
3. The conversion rate in the United States pared with the global rate at 2.3% each. (Barilliance, 2020)
Image from Namogoo
6. The global average conversion rate for Black Friday sales was 4.5% in 2020 compared to 3.8% in 2019. (Namogoo, 2021)
7. There was an impressive rise in the conversion rate in the UK. It soared from 4.4% in 2019 to 6.1% in 2020. Canada also saw a rise in conversion rates from 2.6% in 2019 to 4.1% in 2020. (Namogoo, 2021)
Image by Namogoo
8. The Abandonment rate among mobile phone users was much higher than that of tablet or PC users.
9. The average cart abandonment rates per device for the year 2021 are 74% for mobile phone users, 62% for tablet users and 61% for PC users.
Image: shopping cart abandonment in 2020 by different countries.
- Cart Abandonment on Black Friday was 76.63%.(sale cycle, 2021)
- Spain had the highest cart abandonment rates on average, with 84.55% of customers leaving the session and not making a purchase after adding an item to the cart. (Barilliance, 2020)
- The global average cart abandonment rate was 77.79%. Great Britain had the lowest cart abandonment rate of 66.83%. (Barilliance, 2020)
- The year 2020 had a higher cart abandonment overall compared to 2019.
- The global average cart abandonment increased from 71.36% in 2019 to 77.79% in 2020. There was a 9% increase year over year. (Barilliance, 2020)
- The highest cart abandonment rate was in Airline and luxury fashion. (sale cycle, 2021)
- On Cyber Monday, the lowest cart abandonment rate of the day was around 10 pm at 77.31%. (sale cycle, 2021)
Retailers have to come up with strategies to deal with cart abandonment rates. Some tools can be used to prevent high rates of cart abandonment. But before implementing any strategies it is important to find out the cause. Using promo codes in emails and catalogues, and using a browse abandonment solution to collect data are some optimization tools.
Black Friday Covid-19 Stats
The idea of Black Friday as a solitary day was fading even before the COVID-19 pandemic started. The popularity of internet shopping, joined with retailers’ craving to keep away from the awful stress of fighting customers tussling over TVs, had prompted a weakening of Black Friday spirits.
However, the biggest chunk of shoppers- nearly 165 million, still relied on physical stores for the Black Friday sales. Most of the physical stores were closed due to the restrictions imposed during Covid. Open stores saw less traffic.
The Covid pandemic made retailers shift their way to deal with the pandemic. They shifted the sales online. They even opened the special window for Black Friday bargains significantly sooner than in past years.
Also, some in the retail business have accepted that the new adaptations might become the standard in the future ahead. The competition between e-commerce businesses is greater than ever. Here are some stats for Black Friday during Covid.
1. In the United States, over 180 million people shopped at stores or online on Black Friday and the weekend. (National Retail Federation, 2020)
2. Over 52% of the consumers shopping online the past year also shopped over deals posted before Black Friday. (National Retail Federation)
3. Shopping in physical stores declined by 52% during the pandemic. (Sensormatic Solutions, 2020)
4. Although online shopping has been growing for the past few years, the average number of items per order grew by 60% for European retailers in 2020. (ContactPigeon, 2020)
5. Australia had a well-coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID lockdown restrictions had eased by December, and holiday shopping grew over the previous year by 21% in Victoria and about 3% in the rest of the country. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2020)
6. Independent retailers did well, as 44 million shoppers purchased from direct to consumer sites powered by Shopify. (Business Wire, 2020)
7. Experts predict that labor shortages and supply chain issues can impact online shopping this holiday season. (CBS News, 2021)
8. Online sales on Thanksgiving Day were $5.1 billion in 2020, which was 21.5% higher than in 2019. (Adobe)
9. Even though Black Friday is not very popular in the UK, the UK generates more sales on the weekend than any other European country. (Statista, 2021)
10. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales totaled 8.566 million pounds in the UK in 2019. (Statista 2021)
11. COVID-19 did impact Black Friday retail sales in the UK, as the sales dropped by over 10% in 2020. (The Guardian, 2021)
12. The average rate of Black Friday discounts offered in the UK is 62%. (Black Friday Sale, 2020)
13. The online retailers in the UK received 194 million visits in 2019. (BlackFriday Sale, 2020)
14. In the UK, Black Friday deals can start as early as October but they only peak in November. (eCommerce United, 2020)
15. The German shoppers expected Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts of more than 10%. (Statista, 2021)
16. The average expenditure on Black Friday in France has declined since 2017, reaching a low of 97 euros in 2020. (Statista, 2021)
Online Shopping Vs. In Stores
Over the decades, shopping has evolved drastically. Consumers now have more choices and a variety of preferences.
People can shop online or go to a store or mall. Even though shopping ideas are changing, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still in demand for both in-store and online shoppers.
Shoppers have moved on from physical stores to browse the catalog on their mobile phones. Therefore brands need to ensure that they are delivering a good user experience to get the desired results.
Image from Nosto
1. The average increase in click-through rates from emails and messages was 30.49%. Click-through rates rose by an average of 231% and the conversion rates increased by 200%.(sale cycle, 2021)
2. There were over 500 million online sessions in 2021 and 70% were mobile sessions. (sale cycle, 2021)
3. The in-shopper visits on Black Friday 2019 plummet by 6.2%. (Source: Shopper Trak)
4. Even though there was an increase in the overall sales in 2019, sales at physical brick-and-mortar outlets decreased by 6.2% compared to 2018. This was the weakest result in the past five years.
Most Popular Items Sold On Black Friday
1. Sporting goods, apparel and video games will see the best sales after Thanksgiving with an average discount of 24%. On Black Friday most electronics sales will be electronics. (Black Friday, 2021)
2. The highest average online Black Friday Sales discounts will be available on TV, appliances, tablets, phones, and jewellery. (USA Today, 2021)
3. All the sales days, from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday add up to 20% of the total sales of online holiday shopping in a year. (USA Today, 2021)
4. Popular Black Friday items in the UK include iPhones, Panasonic TVs, and gaming systems. (Much Neededed,2020)
5. Over (53%) of Spaniards want to shop fashion and apparel on Black Friday in 2021, followed by shoes and accessories at 39%. (Statista)
6. German consumers mainly shop for electronics during Black Friday weekend, with top searches ranging from Nintendo Switch to iPad. (eCommerce Germany,2020)
7. 50% of consumers inclined to sustainability would be more likely to purchase apparel from companies that are committed to sustainability. ( Nosto, 2020)
8. Baby Boomers planned to spend $2.9 billion on beauty products, with most of the expenditure on travelling. (Finder, 2021)
According to the NRF, LEGOs, cars, Barbie and trucks are the most popular choices for 2021. Apparels, gift cards and toys are top items for gifts this year.
Consumers can spend an average of $147 to $196 on gift cards and can buy up to four gift cards. The total sales are expected to reach a whopping $28 billion in 2021.
Final Thoughts
The global chip shortage is affecting the production process. It leads to a stock shortage threat. There are chances that stocks would disappear quickly resulting in short sales duration. It would be hard to get rare tech products like the Nintendo Switch OLED.
Retailers like Amazon, ASOS, DELL, and Microsoft are taking part in amazing deals. Do your research and don’t miss out since brands are trying their best to put on better deals.
