Black Friday sales hit record-breaking numbers this year. The most notable change has been the increase in online holiday shopping sales and the decrease of in-store shopping. Advertisers took a more aggressive approach to contribute to these increases. According to eMarketer, Black Friday ads began one week earlier compared to 2017 and companies began advertising the event as a weekend long extravaganza instead of limiting it to just the Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The final results of Black Friday are still rolling in, but the current stats have reached record numbers. CNN has reported that Black Friday sales increased 9% this year and Cyber Monday increased 19% from last year. The largest beneficiaries of the sales weekend of the year are Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy and Target. Amazon announced that this year’s Cyber Monday was the biggest in their company’s history.
Bizrate Insights projected that use of mobile devices for Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping would increase by 38% this year and the final result was actually a 55% increase. Approximately $7.9 billion was spent across online shopping for the holiday weekend, reported by CNBC. The growth of mobile devices caused many retailers to invest tons of money in improvements for their online apps. Mobile devices are responsible for 46% of online orders vs 44% on desktop. Fusion92 saw an increase in ad spend among our top five resellers this year that is reflective of the national trend.
Based on this year’s record high numbers, advertisers should be prepared to ramp up their spend for the remainder of the holiday season to keep the online holiday shopping trend afloat!