Black Friday Metrics Show Online Consumers More Focused

Online shoppers clicked in, made their purchases and left, according to analysis of Black Friday e-commerce site patterns.

First, the good news: The average dollar value that consumers spent per online order rose by 35% from Black Friday 2008, according to Coremetrics. And consumers are buying 18.3% more items – on average, 5.4, up from 4.56 — than they did a year ago.

Apparel retailers and jewelry retailers reported the biggest jumps in the average dollar amount consumers spent per online order, up 28.6% and nearly 25% respectively.

Department stores attracted 151.7% more customers to their e-commerce sites. However, the average dollar amount consumers spent per online order decreased by 7.2%. According to Coremetrics, this may mean shoppers may be sitting on the sidelines waiting for more discounts and special offers.

But consumers are browsing less, meaning they’re less susceptible to cross- and upsell efforts. The number of sessions in which consumers looked at only one page before leaving rose from 22.1% a year ago to 30.9%. And the number of page views per session dropped from 12.63 to 8.97, whie the number of product views dropped from 2.86 to 2.17.

“The healthy jump in the average amount of money people are willing to spend online this year suggests consumers have adjusted their shopping patterns to the reality of the economic downturn. They’re thriftier, they’re savvier and every one of them wants to be the best bargain hunter out there,” John Squire, Coremetrics’ chief strategy officer, said in a statement.

Squire added, “Secondly, there are fewer online retailers this year than last year. Those who survived the first several months of the downturn are pulling out all the stops to lure shoppers with aggressive incentives. The net effect is a jump in the amount the average person spends online and in the number of things they’re willing to purchase per order.”

The Kibbitzer’s Take: Another reason why e-commerce sales are up is because consumers don’t want to spend the gas money getting themselves to the malls – and retailers have taught them that there are discounts-a-plenty online, without the hassle of crowds. Consumers may also be learning how to use search and shopping comparison engines in a more savvy fashion, making them more resilient to cross-sell efforts. Follow this trend over the next few Christmases, folks: We may be seeing the tipping point where consumers have caught on to marketers’ wiles, and e-commerce finally starts to cannibalize, rather than compliment, retail sales.