Black Friday month is over, so we’re going to take a look back at the trends we saw for eCommerce and travel brands during the opening of peak season this year.
Black Friday, or Cyber Month?
Of the top 50 eCommerce sites in the UK (according to similiarweb.com), 18% already had live offers, or were promoting the upcoming sale on the 1st November. The number of sites with offers grew consistently each week in November, until finally on Black Friday 88% of the top 50 eCommerce sites in the UK had offers on their site.
In the US offers started at a similar rate to the UK. In the UK there were slightly more offers or promotions in the early months of November, but on Black Friday itself the US had 90% of its top 50 with some sort of Black Friday offer.
Black Friday is certainly moving away from its traditional one day (or weekend) of great offers and deals, and instead turning into a whole month seasonal shopping event.
A Black Friday peak, but no Cyber Monday
Website traffic
Traffic to Fresh Relevance clients’ websites gradually increased over the 9 days leading up to Black Friday as shoppers checked for early offers. There was a jump in traffic on Black Friday itself, which then dropped back down on Saturday. Traffic was marginally higher on Sunday than it was on Cyber Monday, which implies that Cyber Monday is losing its standing as a peak shopping day, making way for the entire Cyber Month experience.
Revenue
The picture for revenue around Black Friday is different to that of web traffic. There was a much more significant spike in revenue, which was around 5x higher than it was throughout the beginning of November. Daily revenue had already doubled in the build up to Black Friday, and has remained at that higher level since as peak season continues. Similarly to the web traffic trends, Sunday saw more revenue than Cyber Monday, reinforcing the notion that it may be on the verge of disappearing as a shopping holiday.
The big day
What time was the web traffic peak?
On Black Friday itself, web traffic for Fresh Relevance clients started out with a little boost after midnight as keen shoppers made sure they got their hands on the greatest deals as they came out. It then decreased slightly through the early hours of the morning and rose significantly between 8am and 10am. Web traffic continued to increase gradually throughout the day, and peaked around 8pm as shoppers were home from work and settled down to shop. Traffic then sharply declined again the later it got.
With these insights, brands can learn to make sure they are sending out campaigns not just in the morning, but at the peak evening times when shoppers will be most engaged with offers.
How were brands performing?
Purchase rate
Purchase rate of carted products has increase by 25.4% for Black Friday when compared to the previous 3 months for Fresh Relevance clients. Shoppers are visiting eCommerce sites while the best deals of the year are available with more purpose, increasing their likelihood to purchase.
Average order value
Despite a slash in prices during Black Friday sales, average order value of Fresh Relevance clients with live offers was 19.7% higher than it was between January 2022 and October 2022, as consumers took advantage of great deals to do their Christmas shopping.
Conversion rate
Fresh Relevance clients’ eCommerce website conversion rates increased by 101% on Black Friday. Brands optimized their websites around their product offers very effectively to maximize the impact of the peak of the shopping calendar.
Home & Garden and multi-brand retail companies may have seen the lowest increase in website conversion rate of the industries we monitored, but they both still saw an increase of around 50% which is a significant rise. The Fashion, Hobbies & Experiences, and Travel industries have all seen their website conversion rates roughly double. Health & Beauty and Kids eCommerce businesses saw the most significant increases in conversion rate, both at around 150% increase in conversions.
Winning Black Friday tactics
Cart abandonment email conversion rates were 47.9% higher on Black Friday than they are usually. This made them a highly effective tactic for eCommerce companies on this busy day as they tried to cut through the noise to reach shoppers and bring them back to purchase.
It was browse abandonment emails however that truly won Black Friday. Browse abandonment email conversion rates more than doubled for Black Friday. These emails that draw shoppers back to the offers that they were browsing were an incredibly effective tactic for eCommerce brands.
Want to find out more about eCommerce personalization and optimization trends throughout the rest of the year? Check out our Real Time Marketing Report.
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