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Ecommerce M-commerce Data

15 per cent of Black Friday sales set to take place prior to 9am

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By Ishbel Macleod, PR and social media consultant

November 19, 2014 | 2 min read

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest days for retailers in the Christmas period, with shopping peaking at between 6pm and 9pm.

According to Rakuten Marketing, 23 per cent of sales on Black Friday (the last Friday of November and the day after Thanksgiving) happen between the hours of 6pm and 9pm, with 26 per cent of sales on Cyber Monday (the first Monday of December) happening during this time.

However, the research, based on data from over 350 leading brands, found that despite this being the key time, retailers need to be set early, with early birds beginning their shop at 6am.

Rakuten found that in 2013, 15 per cent of Black Friday sales took place before 9am, a trend that could be repeated.

The company also pointed out that aside from Cyber Monday, the biggest shopping peak happens in the three hours leading up to the Monday, with this day also being the peak across the whole Christmas shopping period for conversions from retargeting.

Sumitra Joy, head of analytics at Rakuten Marketing commented: “Marketers need to be making their brand visible on these days, as well as the days following and leading up to them, to be in the game this Christmas. Brands should harness detailed shopping insights to target their customers with the right campaigns, and by understanding the most popular dates, times, as well as products and devices, retailers can create targeted content to stand out at this very competitive time of year.”

The research found that over 75 per cent of sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday come from desktop.

However, across all product sectors and throughout the Christmas period, tablets show the highest conversion rate, at six per cent for 2013.

Joy added: “Data and measurement is invaluable to help brands understand their audiences, and only with the right toolkit can retail marketers attribute budget intelligently, into the right campaigns and across numerous channels.”

Retargeting after basket abandonment was found to create nearly a fifth of conversions (17.1 per cent).

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