Since we wrote about November 11 – Singles Day in China, it seemed only fitting to next cover U.S. shopping over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And, while the gross revenue sales in the U.S. fell well beneath the 2020 Singles Day record of more than $75 billion in purchases over an 11-day period, U.S. shopping still hit record levels of roughly $9.6 billion on Black Friday, an increase of 21.6% from 2019!
Black Friday shopping was followed by another strong shopping day tallying $10.6 billion on Cyber Monday. To many marketers, more interesting than the dollar amounts are the shifts in habit to online shopping. In particular, sales on mobile devices accounted for an estimated 40% of purchases for a total of $3.6 billion, an increase of 23% compared to last year. Mobile is where it’s at these days.
Some additional shopping highlights:
- People spent an average of $312 on holiday purchases between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
- Americans spent 116.6 million hours shopping online.
- Consumers spent $6.3 million per minute online.
- Average spending per consumer online was $27.50.
- Biggest categories were electronics, clothing, and toys.
- In-store shopping on Black Friday declined 37% .
- Online shopping on Black Friday increased 8%.
Consumer shopping habits are certainly changing. Now marketers have to keep up!
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss the changes in U.S. consumers’ shopping habits.
- What new shopping habits have the students formed?
- Where do they shop? Why? Online and in person?
- Show video about the changes in store for Black Friday shopping: https://www.wsj.com/video/the-end-of-the-mad-rush-how-2020-is-reshaping-black-friday/FD19834F-9701-46E9-A6D5-14A1AE2F9601.html
- Poll students about their shopping over Thanksgiving Week – Cyber Monday. How much was spent, which products were sought after, etc.?
- Divide students into teams.
- Considering the increasing use of shopping on smart phones, have students develop a marketing campaign specifically for mobile devices.
Source: AdWeek; CNBC; New York Times; Wall Street Journal; other news sources
