Consumers will be atwitter on Black Friday and Cyber Monday & other stats you can act on now
Your overarching holiday campaigns are set. But that may not be enough this holiday season. Consumers will zig; you’ll need to zag. They’ll be looking for relevance along their buyer’s journey; you had better be there to deliver it. Fortunately, there’s an abundance of data that hints at where and how you should expect to connect with consumers in real time, Black Friday through Cyber Monday.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping
Have your Twitter team at the ready
Consumers looking for a quick response from brands often turn to Twitter. According to Sprout Social data, in 2015–2017 Twitter messages from consumers to retailers tripled on Black Friday and Cyber Monday as compared to an average day. And that’s not just in the US. Consumers celebrate Black Friday and Cyber Monday globally (who doesn’t love a good deal?!). As a result, Brazil, Canada, France, and the UK, have all seen significant increases in Twitter interactions on those days over the past three years.
Think twice on pricing
Special offers aren’t the only reason consumers hit the stores on Black Friday or the e-commerce shops on Cyber Monday. The top reason for shopping those two days — cited by 35% of consumers in Burns Group’s BrandInformers network — is to kick off the holiday season. In fact, more than half of shoppers (58%) say they aren’t hung up on those shopping days because they can get good deals all year long.
But that’s not all. Many consumers already know what they want to purchase for the holiday. And, sure, they’re looking for deals — 31% of those polled by Burns Group expect the best prices all year on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and nearly two-thirds are looking for deals. But you may not need to go steep on discounting.
More than half of consumers polled by Avionos (52%) say they’re most likely to shop for intentional purchases on desktop or mobile devices. Feeling ‘promotional’? Queue up some tempting in-store bargains: 70% of consumers say they’re most likely to make impulse purchases in a physical store.
Remember that it’s not just about gifts…
Consumers are budgeting about $70 on holiday spending for themselves this year, according to OpenX and The Harris Poll.
And not just about two shopping days
About a third of consumers (34%) polled for that study don’t even start their holiday gift planning until Black Friday or after and 6% don’t shop until the week before Christmas. So, use the data from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday to see what changes you might want to make to your campaigns and promotions over the ensuing weeks. And keep in mind that 60% of consumers polled feel overwhelmed by Black Friday and skip it altogether.
Play to your advantage
Across studies, clothing and electronics topped the lists of items consumers are planning to purchase. Sell those items? Play them up. Also, multiple studies found that up to half of consumers are planning to shop online on Black Friday. So, if you offer a ‘buy online/pickup in-store,’ tout it. Can you launch your Cyber Monday deals on Black Friday instead? Consider flipping the switch.
Adobe Analytics is forecasting $5.9 billion in online sales on Black Friday (17.2% growth over 2017) and $7.8 billion on Cyber Monday (17.6% YoY growth). Make sure you’re ready to react to consumers in real time as opportunities arise, so you can optimize your share of the holiday spoils.