Black Friday & Cyber Monday By The Numbers

The popularity of shopping both personal for business on Black Friday and Cyber Monday is not only hugely popular in America, but it’s an event that has been adopted worldwide. Why are these days huge shopping events and how have the sales numbers grown over the years?

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, a public holiday in America celebrated as a federal holiday since 1863 – always on a Thursday. Black Friday dates back to the 1950s, describing the sick workers taking the day off to get afour-dayy weekend. Black Friday is part of Cyber weekend, the busiest shopping event of the year!

Marketers have created cyber Monday to get people to shop online, and it’s hard to argue that they were anything but successful!

The discount shopping experience is also no longer limited to two days or just the weekend. Like other shopping events, Cyber weekend can commence whenever a business chooses to set off. It is not unusual to pick up the Black Friday deals a week in advance.

Some of the top deals on electronics, large appliances, movies, musi,c and books will be available on Black Friday, while smaller appliances, appeal, and toys will likely be among the best offerings on Cyber Monday.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Statistics

Both shopping days kicked off six years ago. In 2011 online spending on Black Friday was $1.3,b while Cyber Monday was $816m.

Fast forward to 201,6 and online sales had grown by over 300% Online startups as well as businesses not selling product look to these mammoth shopping events to boost sales of their services. For example, you can expect discounts onalmostt everything, andthe cyber weekend is no longer the reserve of online shopping. Foot traffic can also get deals in stores.

Plus, are you getting a discount?

Not alway,s or worse stil,l most often not.  98% of Black Friday deals were cheaper ‘after’ Black Friday!

Black Friday, by the statistics, is amarketer’ss dream come true. Shopping was expected in 2019, and people were happy to flock to retailers and shop to their heart’s content. Spendingtotaledd around $7.5bn on Black Friday and $9.5bn on Cyber Monday.

The following year i.e.2020 online shopping was up by 61% on Black Friday spending was $9bn and $10.8bn on Cyber Monday.

2021 – A Year Like No Other

Spending was down on previous years, and it was expected, too, given the upheaval in the retail and hospitality industries caused by the COVID pandemic. $14bn was the total spent in 2021. Compare this to the $14.3bn in 2020; while it was lower, it was still good.

So what’s predicted for the full shopping weekend in 2022? Black Friday is 25 November, and Cyber Monday is 28 November. Expect retailers to start their sales earlier and keep them running for longer. What started as a quick dash to secure drastically reduced items is now a long, extended stretch of lower prices on almost everything as a build-up to Christmas spending. There will be lower spending this year however with a total of $13bn predicted.

Challenges

Supply chain challenges will put a lot of pressure on businesses. Do they promote their stock or risk failing to deliver until next year?

Delivery timeframes of six weeks or more, and it’s the end of the year before you see your Black Friday purchase will put some shoppers off.

Sales may be down this year again – but with the economic outlook of interest rate rises and higher prices to continue, $13bn over a weekend is not too bad. Watch this space. We will report the statistics of the actual spending after they are in the public domain.