Black Friday Shopping Asserts its Presence Online
According to data from Compete, traffic to Black Friday websites has been growing in recent times, most recently showing a 40 percent year-over-year increase in 2009. However, at the outset of November, there is was less traffic in November 2010 than there was in November 2009.
About 5 million more visitors went to the group of Black Friday sites in 2009 compared to 2008, a 40 percent year-over-year increase. During the first week of November, however, 3.2 million visitors went to these sites, down 15 percent from 3.7 million visitors in the first week of November 2009. In the first week of November 2008, 2.4 million visitors flocked to Black Friday websites.
“With lower numbers at the start of the month, it will be interesting to see how traffic will trend for the rest of November,” notes Lindsay Steinbach, an associate in retail and consumer products at Compete. “Though the clock is ticking, shoppers still have some time left to get online and find out the best Black Friday deals.”
Blackfriday.info is the top site in the Black Friday custom category, followed by bfads.net, black-Friday.net, theblackfriday.com, cybermonday.com, blackfriday.com, blackfriday.fm, tgiblackfriday.com, dealsofamerica.com and blackfridayads.com.
According to The Retail Email Blog, Sears was responsible for the first mention of Cyber Monday by a top-100 retailer. The blog also notes that several of these retailers are running “every Friday is Black Friday” e-mail campaigns, which has led to a boost of Black Friday messaging from last year.
Last week, 53 percent of major online retailers sent at least one promotional e-mail on Thursday (11/11) and Friday (11/12), followed by 50 percent on Monday (11/8), 44 percent on Tuesday (11/9), 40 percent on Wednesday (11/10), 39 percent on Sunday (11/7) and 28 percent on Saturday (11/6).
Compete found that as of Nov. 7, 61 percent of respondents said they had begun their holiday shopping. While 39 percent had not started, 24 percent said they completed 1-10 percent of their holiday shopping, 12 percent said they had completed 11-25 percent, 10 percent said they had completed 26-50 percent, 6 percent said they had completed 51-75 percent, 5 percent said they had completed 75-99 percent, and 4 percent said they had finished all their holiday shopping.
The company also found that during the week of Nov. 1-7, the average consumer spent $185 on holiday purchases online, compared to $175 spent on holiday purchases in-store. This marked the first time since the beginning of October that consumers spent more online than in-store.
As of Nov. 7, Amazon was the top online retailer but was losing ground to competitors like eBay and Overstock. Walmart.com, Target.com and Sears.com also saw strong increases in purchases.
Sources:</strong
http://blog.compete.com/2010/11/15/compete-holiday-insights%E2%84%A2-2010-3/
http://www.retailemailblog.com/search/label/Black%20Friday
http://blog.compete.com/2010/11/13/compete-holiday-insights%E2%84%A2-2010-2/
