Michael Kors, Samsung and Sony winning the £1.2bn Black Friday battle
Michael Kors, Samsung, and Sony are the most talked about global brands among consumers in the lead up to the Black Friday weekend, according to social analytics firm Meltwater.
Four of the five brands generating the most buzz were electrical, but fashion brand Michael Kors is currently leading with 283,139 mentions, followed by Samsung (203.598 mentions), Sony (158,665 mentions), Apple (144,004 mentions) and Panasonic (94,300 mentions).
Meanwhile, in the UK Amazon is storming ahead with a 32 per cent share of 'brand buzz', followed by Asda (23 per cent) and Tesco (14 per cent)
The brands are battling it out for a share of what IMRG has predicted will be a record breaking spend over the weekend which kicks off with Black Friday on 28 November, culminating in Cyber Monday on 1 December.
IMRG’s figures suggest that there will be 124 million visits to online retail sites on Friday – a 17 per cent increase on 2013 – and 145 million visits on Monday. Broken down, this corresponds to £555.5m – or (over £385,000 per minute) – being spent on Black Friday and £649.6m (£451,000 per minute) spent on Cyber Monday.
Mobile shoppers will be behind much of this spend with smartphones and tablets set to account for over half of all traffic to retail websites during the festive season and on Black Friday alone, online spend via mobile devices is set to reach over £196m.
The results led Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG to state that the US phenomenon of Black Friday is now firmly embedded in the UK retail calendar.
“While the first two weeks of December are traditionally the peak festive trading weeks for the online retail industry, Black Friday now marks the start of the online shopping season,” she said.
Women will lead the charge, according to research from Verdict. Almost half (47 per cent) of all UK shoppers will take advantage of Black Friday deals with 61 per cent of female consumers expecting to make a purchase.
Verdict also found that Black Friday appeals more to younger shoppers with 56 per cent of 15-24 year olds planning to spend with this figure rising to 59 per cent for 25-34 year olds.
In contrast, mature shoppers over 65 are notably less interested in the retail event with just 28 per cent likely to make a purchase.
This has clearly influenced the products people are most interested in. Meltwater found that across social media people have been talking about digital cameras (446,968 mentions), iPads (205,150 mentions), and television (199,610 mentions) the most.
Despite the mania Black Friday and Cyber Monday ensues, customer service is still the major influence on consumer shopping decisions. According to Youstice’s survey of more than 3,000 online shoppers across Europe, nine in ten (90 per cent) say good customer service is vital when making a decision to purchase while three fifths (63 per cent) are persuaded to make a purchase purely on positive customer feedback.
Four in five shoppers (79 per cent) are influenced by visible industry trust marks on a retailer’s website.
Patrick Fagan, associate lecturer at Goldsmiths University said the results of Youstice’s survey indicate today’s consumers make decisions about a retailer as soon as they land on the home page.
“Retailers need to wise up and understand the psyche of the modern shopper and what is likely to trigger a purchasing decision the quickest,” he added.
But for retailers slow to capitalise on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, IRMG has stated that the second Monday in December – now dubbed Manic Monday – will prove to be a bigger opportunity.
Over £676m, the equivalent to £470,000 per minute, is set to be spent on this day as 151 million people (a 26 per cent increase compared to 2013) will make visits to online retail sites.
The Black Friday boom is also good news for online advertisers. A survey of 1,228 people by Rocket Fuel has suggested that two thirds (63 per cent) of consumers will pay more attention to online ads during days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.