Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday is considered one of the most important days of retail shopping in the United States. For retailers, the day after Thanksgiving traditionally marked the day they moved into profitability for the year — from “in the red” to “in the black”. Black Friday is the jump off point for retailers to get customers into their stores by enticing them with deep discounts, free shipping and coupons. A 2010 survey conducted by the National Retail Federation showed that 212 million shoppers visited stores and websites over the holiday weekend. This marked an increase of over 17 million from last year. Here are some other interesting results of that survey.
- People spent more on average, $365.34, up from $343.31 in 2009
- The amount of shoppers increased from 195 million to 212 million
- Total spending reached an estimated $45.0 billion from $41.2 billion
- Online sales pushed higher from $595 million to $648 million due to Cyber Monday
- 7 million consumers plan to use their smartphone to shop holiday deals
Black Friday is considered a lot of things to a lot of people. It has been described a number of different ways.
- “An all-American cultural experience” — the Palm Beach Post
- “The Super Bowl of shopping” — CBS News
- “A full-contact sport” — Time magazine
- “A carnival of capitalism” — New York Times
The fact is all sorts of factors play into the Black Friday/Cyber Monday hype. Over the years, companies have become more and more aggressive with their marketing to get people to come out and spend their money with them. The data suggests that it’s working.
- 35 — Percent of U.S. adults (that’s more than 62 million people) who say they actually start their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving.
- 66 — Percent of Black Friday shoppers who say they shop for themselves the day after Thanksgiving, according to Consumer Reports.
- 45 — Percent of consumers who shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday
In the next week, we will be exploring some creative ways that you can take advantage of this time of the year and maximize sales for your store. You don’t have to be a “big box” retailer to cash in on the hype! Check back with us as we explore signage, display options, packaging and more.
