Ah The Cyber Five, that is what we are calling it now, the five-day shopping weekend that is Thanksgiving – Cyber Monday. The name cropped up last year and we are running with it.
But I digress…
During this five-day shopping extravaganza, 189.6 million US shoppers went to stores and retail sites! That’s a new record, btw, and it is up 14% year-over-year. (according to the NRF)
NRF reports that about 124 million shoppers headed to brick-and-mortar locations, 142.2 million shopped online and 75.7 million, not playing favorites, hit up online deals and in-store promotions.
“Americans continue to start their holiday shopping earlier in the year, and Thanksgiving is still a critical weekend for millions,” NRF President and CEO, Matthew Shay said. “Whether they’re looking for something unique on Main Street, making a trip to the store or searching for the best deals from their mobile device, this is when shoppers shift into high gear. With the condensed holiday season, consumers are feeling the pressure to get their shopping done in time. Even those who typically wait until the last minute to purchase gifts turned out in record numbers all weekend long.”
The Cyber Five Online Shopping Sales by Day:
- Thanksgiving – $4.2 billion (+19% YoY)
- Black Friday – $7.4 billion (+19% YoY)
- Small Business Saturday & Super Sunday – $7.4 billion (+16% YoY)
- Cyber Monday – $9.4 billion (+14% YoY)
- Cyber Five Total – $28.4 billion (+17% YoY)
It is worth mentioning that Adobe Analytics estimated that Cyber Five sales would top $29 billion this year. Or in other terms, rake in 20% of total revenue for the full holiday shopping season (compared to 19% of last year’s total). They were close this year! As compared to last year when estimates were almost one billion dollars off.
At a Glance In-Store Shoppers During The Cyber Five: (according to the NRF)
- Thanksgiving Day – 37.8 million
- Black Friday – 84.2 million shoppers
- Small Business Saturday – 59.9 million
- Super Sunday – 29.2 million
- Cyber Monday – 21.8 million
Fun fact, of those who shopped on Saturday, 73% were out to specifically out to support Small Business Saturday!
At a Glance Online Shoppers During The Cyber Five: (according to the NRF)
- Thanksgiving Day – 49.7 million
- Black Friday – 93.2 million shoppers
- Small Business Saturday – 58.2 million
- Super Sunday – 43.1 million
- Cyber Monday – 83.3 million
While Cyber Monday is considered THE digital shopping day, for the first time, Black Friday saw 93.2 million online shoppers while Cyber Monday only saw 83.3 million (ha, only). Thus, crow
To us marketers, it might come as no surprise that shoppers that shopped in-store and online spent at least 25% more on retail goodies with an average of $366.79. Additionally, NFR calculated an average of $361.90/customer on holiday items (up 16% year-over-year).
One for You, One for Me:
- $361.90 on holiday-specific items (16% year-over-year growth)
- $257.33 (or 71% or the $361.90 total) actually went to gifts
Quick question, which generation or age demographic spent the most during the Cyber Five? Boomers, right? Logical. After all, they make up the most wealth in the US possessing more than half (54%) of all of household wealth.
Well, if you guessed Boomers like I did you’d be wrong. Twenty-five to 35-year-olds spent the most during the five-day holiday shopping spectacle at $440.46, closely followed by 35 to 44-year-olds at $439.72. Slow clap for “older” millennials? Yeah, we’ll take it. This also leads to another question, is your brand reaching this market? But that’s another conversation entirely.
Take Your Shopping Experience with You:
We all know that social media has become, and will continue to become, a platform to purchase. Meaning, no need to leave an app to purchase a product. So, thanks to the ease of social’s shoppability, along with retail apps, consumers spent more time spending on their phones than in previous years.
According to Salesforce, Black Friday saw an increase in mobile orders of 35%, with 65% of all Ecommerce being attributed to a mobile device. Yeah, read that again.
Adobe went as far as to call Black Friday “the biggest day ever for mobile!” Well, because it was. Smartphones alone brought in $2.9 billion in sales, accounting for 39% of all Ecomm sales. This is a 21% increase year-over-year.
“This is the year that will go down in the history books as the tipping point between digital and real-world,” Head of Global Commerce Strategy at Publicis Sapient, Jon Reily said. “We knew it was coming and 2019 is the year.”
Unsurprisingly, online traffic from smartphones rose significantly as well jumping to 61% this year from 15.8% last year.
The role of mobile devices extends into how people comparison shop. Around 75% of consumers use their devices to research products, compare prices, or make purchases. This is up from 66 % last year.
Intent to Purchase:
With in-store and online shopping becoming increasingly seamless, free shipping was the incentive that consumers needed to complete a purchase they were otherwise tentative about. But this isn’t the first time free shipping has held the power of purchase, 49% of consumers said that it was the deciding factor this year (over 42% last year).
Ordering online and picking up in-store is also an option that consumers are resonating with. In-store pickup rose to 20% this year, up from 15% last year.
“The growth in online retail sales is a tide that lifts everybody,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy, Phil Rist said. “When consumers are buying from retailers online but picking up or making returns in-store, it is more and more difficult to distinguish between the sales retailers make in their stores and the ones they make on their websites.”
Did Someone Say Email is Dead?
Not around here! And as much as we preach that email is far from outdated or in fact deceased, it is nice to hear that sentiment echoed in supporting stats. Like this one, 39% of consumers leverage their inbox to sift out emails from their favorite retailers for information on deals and promotions. Thus, driving customers to your site and in-store.
“Online shopping received some unexpected boosts this holiday season. Retailer fears of a shorter season meant that deals came much sooner than usual, and consumers took notice. In some areas of the country, adverse weather in the form of snow and heavy rain meant that many opted to stay home instead and grabbed the best deals online. Just look at Black Friday, which brought in $7.4 billion online and is just below last year’s Cyber Monday at $7.9 billion,” said Principal Analyst and Head of Adobe Digital Insights, Taylor Schreiner.
“Consumers are reimagining what it means to shop during the holidays,” Schreiner added.
What does all this mean? Well, long story short is that this year marks an undeniable shift, seen most dramatically in mobile stats, that highlights how retailers have finally caught up to consumers. Shoppers use their shopping channels seamlessly; online, off-line, social, email…it doesn’t matter to them, but it should matter to brands. Seamless shopping should matter because that is how your consumer shops. If you’re placing your customers’ shopping journey in channeled silos, you’re not speaking to them in a language they understand. You’re leaving money and customer loyalty on the table.
Luckily, we are always here to help! We look at your marketing mix as a whole and we pride ourselves on treating shoppers as people, not as dollar signs. Drop us a line if you ever want to chat.
