With Black Friday fast approaching, here are the top statistics about the mega shopping extravaganza that you need to know.
Black Friday Spending And Sales Statistics
1. Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. In 2019 the holiday saw 93.2 million buyers who shopped online. This resulted in a 14% surge in online shopping which hit $7.4 billion. (Potturi, 2021)
2. Black Friday sales are no longer a one-day event. The retail stores see 30% of all sales from Black Friday till Christmas. This identifies Black Friday as the day from which the busiest shopping season starts. (Maharjan, 2019)
3. Although the overall sales were high, in 2019, sales physically in outlets dropped by 6.2% from 2018. This was the weakest result in five years. (Ivanova, 2020)
4. Most Black Friday sales start days before and end days later than the actual day, as the competition is very fierce. The best deals on electronic products start at the beginning of November.
The average discount reaches 23%. During Thanksgiving, one can find the best deals, but the average discount is 20%. After Thanksgiving till Black Friday, the average discount reaches 37%, which is the highest. (Javed Awan, 2021)
5. 36% of US consumers planned to do their holiday shopping on Black Friday in 2020, which is a huge decrease in statistics compared to 2015, when the number was 60%. (Raymen, 2016)
According to data Black Friday shoppers in the US spent $9 billion in the year 2020 despite the concerns about the COVID-!9 virus. (Bezai, 2021)
6. Gen X and Baby Boomers are the ones who spend the most on shopping this holiday season.
7. People aged between 35 and 44 are most likely to take part in the event of shopping. Women are more likely to partake in this shopping event in 2021. (Wu, 2018)
8. 11% of adults in America shop because they think they would find a good deal in the holiday season and the remaining percent could not give a reason or said they were just bored.
9. North Dakota was the state with the most spending on Black Friday. (May, 2018)
Black Friday Vs. Cyber Monday Shopping Stats
10. In the US alone, there were 174 million shoppers during cyber week.
11. 37% of the consumers preferred shopping online to avoid big crowds during the busy shopping season. Sales of physical stores dropped by 23.9%, and in store crowd for brick and mortar stores was down by 42.3%. (Swilley and Goldsmith, 2013)
12. Digital retailers saw an increase in online shopping by 77% on Black Friday and 46% on Cyber Monday. Online shopping even increased by 118% in Cyber Week.
13. Online shopping on Black Friday made an 8% year-on-year increase which brought total consumers shopping online to 100 million. (Petrescu, 2013)
14. In 2020 Cyber Monday beat Black Friday by $2.4 billion spent digitally. Amazon was the go to destination for consumers and shoppers online. Cyber Week is also gaining popularity among other states, including the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and China. (Yáñez, 2021)
15. Sports goods had an increase in value by 136% and other goods such as automobiles, furniture and beauty products had also faced a significant growth. (Kwon, 2015)
Black Friday Covid-19 Stats
16. Black Friday is the time that every customer waits to grab exciting deals and the retailers get the opportunity to earn more sales. Even with the threat of Covid 19 and the lockdown, Black Friday sales grew up to 22% in 2020, raising $9 billion in the US. (Ivanova, 2020)
17. Especially with the rise in online shopping and with the growth of shopping platforms throughout the internet, Black Friday sales are expected to grow. It is even growing as a trend in other countries than the US. The retailers wait for this season and call this Black Friday a symbol of hope that they will replace the losses of the whole year during the Christmas month with profit. (Fauzan, 2020).
Half of the consumers took advantage of the Black Friday deals which were posted earlier.
18. In store sales on Black Friday declined by 52%. (Hall, 2021)
19. In Europe, retailers saw the average growth per article to be 60%. (Zhongming, 2020)
In Australia Covid lockdowns eased by December and holiday shopping grew by 21% in Victoria and by 3% in the rest of Australia. (Hou, 2020)
20. Online sales on Thanksgiving day grossed to $5.1 billion, which is 21.5% higher than in 2019.
Best Selling Products On Black Friday: Online Vs. Physical Stores
21. Amazon showed a 20% growth in 2019 and came out top of the list through online shopping. Amazon accounted for 54.9% of sales in the Black Friday week. (Delcea, 2017)
22. In 2019, shares of Walmart grew by 20%. The best deals and most shopped were the televisions of the companies Phillips and Samsung and the toys from Disney’s “Frozen” and “Ryan’s World” and Apple Airpods. (LEE, 2019)
23. Best Buy had the most interesting deals and huge discounts on electronics, and its sales increased by 25% in 2019. (Maharjan, 2019)
24. The best buys were TVs, smartwatches, computers and airpods. According to the records, clothing and accessories were also in high demand and were sold extensively. 57.35% of the shoppers shopped in-store, but 56% made their purchases online. (Simpson, 2011)
25. Only 44.6% of customers bought electronic devices in-store, but 51.6% of the shoppers bought them online. (Chatrath, 2020)
26. 25.22% of shoppers bought furniture in-store. Only 16.2% bought it online. (YU, 2016)
Frequently Asked Questions About Black Friday
When did Black Friday start?
The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia. In the early 1960s, Philadelphia police complained about the streets clogged with motorists and pedestrians rushing to the Army-Navy football game and looking for exciting deals post Thanksgiving and calling it “Black Friday”.
In which U.S. city did the term Black Friday originate?
Black Friday originated in Philadelphia in the 1960s to mark the spurge to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to the stores moving from “red” to “black”, when accounting numbers were kept by hand and red ink denoted loss and black ink denoted profit. Since the start of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known to be the start of the holiday season.
Why did Black Friday become so popular?
Retailers gradually realized that they could pull more and more customers by just putting out discounts, Black Friday became the day to shop even more than last day sales before Christmas.
Some retailers even put their items on sale on the day of Thanksgiving or email the customers weeks before the actual event. The items that are most shopped for are electronics and popular toys, as these are the most discounted.
Home furnishings are also very hugely sold, and prices are slashed. Most major retailers post their ads and offers beforehand to give time to the customers to plan their shopping and needs. Other companies take a different approach in posting ads at the last minute to create a buzz among consumers.
Final Thoughts
The shopping season is what most people wait for. Everyone loves exciting deals and discounts thus, they plan their shopping to this day or week. The shopping season starting from Thanksgiving and Black Friday, caters to the shoppers who shop for Christmas, and thus the most sold items are electronics, toys for kids, and fashion.
In the end, everyone hates to stand in a queue and go to overcrowded places, and thus online shopping comes to save their day. Customers can also find and note the deals that are usually posted by the companies earlier than the shopping and holiday week.
The comfort of shopping from home also leads to more sales as people order more items trying to get more deals and discounts on multiple items. The retailers, in the end, also take advantage to gain maximum profits and increase their sales to balance their losses over the year.
