Constant commerce stretches Black Friday to start of November

This year’s Black Friday succeeded in driving a 247% increase in online transactions compared to the average number he UK sees in first week of November.

Research from Criteo, based on data from more than 1,000 e-commerce players in the UK, shows that the categories driving the Black Friday surge this year included jewellery, which increased 405%, home and lifestyle which was up 378% and apparel up 254%. This compares to a 128% rise in consumer electronics purchases.

Black Friday is becoming less and less about electronic goods. This year saw transactions soar in resurgent categories like travel. By mid-November, air travel bookings were up 103%, highlighting a shifting consumer trend towards luxuries and treats, rather than focusing on more necessary products like laptops.

On Black Friday itself, however, overall sales were down 18% year-on-year across the retail e-commerce sector. Importantly, Black Friday 2020 was something of a phenomenon.

With so much more time spent at home, consumer electronics saw a surge in demand from consumers who needed better home working equipment and had held on to extra cash as a result of little to no holiday travel opportunities.

This year was different. Alongside competition from the travel sector, the rise of constant commerce has also made earlier points in November far more significant as ‘always on’ shoppers are able to snap up the very first signs of retailer deals.

Significantly, the number of e-commerce transactions in the UK for the first week of November remained level with 2020, increasing through the month toward Black Friday.

While this might mean no more record breaking Black Fridays, for brands and retailers, the window of opportunity has matured into a full month.

Given this trend, Criteo says it will be interesting to see how many businesses – both in consumer electronics and sectors like travel - start their ‘peak’ promotions in October 2022.

Shopify

Canadian e-commerce platform giant Shopify has announced a record setting Black Friday with sales of nearly $2.9 billion from the start of Black Friday in New Zealand through the end of the event in California.

This represents a 21% increase over 2020 when sales by Shopify merchants surged 75% over 2019 driven by Covid-19 lockdowns, and is more than double their sales on 2019.

Collectively, merchants on Shopify generated peak sales of nearly $3.1 million per minute at 12:02 PM EST on Black Friday, and merchants crossed $1 billion in sales by 4:00am EST, four hours earlier than in 2020.

$2.9B total sales by Shopify merchants around the world this Black Friday. Simply mind-blowing. Thanks to everyone who supports independent businesses this year, and congrats to all of our merchants for a record-breaking day. pic.twitter.com/yasx9xIkbT
— Tobi Lütke (@tobi) November 27, 2021

"Every year, Black Friday represents one of the largest single day sales moments for entrepreneurs around the world, and this year it was bigger than ever," says Harley Finkelstein, President at Shopify.

"From in-store retailers, to online, and even viral TikTok must-haves, these Black Friday sales show that independent businesses are having a massive impact on global commerce. Consumer support of independent brands is at an all time high.”

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