Black Friday and Cyber Monday sees men and millennials shop and spend more
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping days of the year, and may be a bigger deal for men versus women, and for millennial shoppers compared to other age groups.
Additionally, new research suggests that men and millennials have a set plan to spend a certain amount of money and do a bulk of their shopping on these two days.
A survey of over 779 upcoming shoppers for Black Friday or Cyber Monday produced by Mindshare North America, the global media agency network that's part of WPP, found that 68% of men who plan on shopping on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday have a specific budget in mind versus 55% of women. Additionally, 76% of shoppers age 18-34 know how much they will spend, compared to 59% of shoppers ages 35-54 and 37% from ages 55 and over.
"Interestingly enough, the research shows that Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be a bigger deal for men versus women, and for millennial shoppers as compared to other age groups," said Joe Migliozzi, managing director, global head of shop+ for Mindshare. "There's no one silver media bullet for reaching those groups—but ultimately, you start by grounding your commerce strategies in audience data and insights and building off of that. The right media plan will leverage those not just from the start, but with adaptive strategies throughout the holidays."
Cyber Monday appeals more to men than women (74% to 62%) with a total of 68% of shoppers saying that they prefer shopping on Cyber Monday—a stat that rises to 72% for millennial shoppers.
The research also found that male shoppers are nearly twice as likely as women (52% versus 28%) to share information about their actual purchases afterwards on social media. Men use their phones more when in-store to check prices on items, rising to 66% versus 49% of female shoppers.
Men and millennials are also more committed to camping outside stores before they open with 56% of male shoppers saying that are willing to do so, versus 29% of female shoppers. And, 58% of shoppers ages 18-34 do so, versus 42% of shoppers ages 35-54 and 14% of shoppers ages 55 and up.
Men appear to be more focused on getting the deals offered on Black Friday, the research notes with 69% saying that they cannot get these deals at any other time. Additionally, 72% of millennials believe these deals only come around on these two days. Men also share a belief (70%) that in-store deals will be better than online deals, versus 51% of female shoppers.
The research also broke down the type of shoppers to spontaneous, avoidant, value-driven and focused. Unsurprisingly, more than half (56%) of spontaneous shoppers would like to see longer sales hours in store. Nearly half (49%) would like to see contest, promotions, or sweepstakes for shoppers. In addition, 61% would like to see companies offer discounts on a wider array of products during Black Friday. Further, 78% of avoidant shoppers said that they prefer shopping on Cyber Monday.
Although 55% of shoppers would like to see companies offer discounts on a wider array of products during Black Friday, the research notes that 87% of shoppers respect companies that are closed on Thanksgiving Day.