Digital Blurs the Lines between Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Holiday_digital_marketing

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are technically two distinct shopping days. But as more consumers leave the crowds behind and do their early holiday shopping from the comfort of their own couch, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish one from the other.

Nielsen reported that 51% of polled consumers were planning to buy something on the Internet the day after Thanksgiving. And according to the Adobe Digital Index, online sales reached $1.93 billion on Black Friday – an increase of 39% over last year. But that hasn’t stopped traditional retailers from digging in for a fight. With online sales on track to outpace in-store purchases for the first time, brick-and-mortar stores pulled out all the stops. Many opened doors before the Thanksgiving turkey was cold, including Macy’s, in an effort to get people browsing their aisles.

While many stores were packed with shoppers, research found that many people relied more than ever on digital technology to find the best deals. According to IBM’s latest Data Benchmark report, 21.8% of all online Black Friday sales were made from mobile devices, with mobile traffic up more than a third over Black Friday 2012. Black Friday sales on smartphone-optimized websites were up 187% over last year, according to Branding Brand; and many more consumers are engaging in “omni-shopping” – browsing for goods across multiple channels and platforms.

According to Google’s 2013 Holiday Shopper Intentions survey, four out of five shoppers now rate the internet as the single most useful resource for making purchasing decisions, and 80% of consumers will use more than one device at once while holiday shopping. Even more will start on one device and finish on another. The takeaway for marketers is that it’s more imperative than ever to take a multi-pronged approach to brand messaging and think outside the box by using unique digital approaches to engage consumers.

Some retail chains have already gotten a head start. Before Black Friday last year, Staples began running “flash sales” that notified shoppers of hour-long deals via a mobile app. Other companies, like RadioShack, are adopting technology that sets time parameters on emails, so that ad content can be adjusted based on time-of-day.

A strong social media presence is also a plus as more and more consumers are consulting Facebook and Twitter before making their purchase decisions. Experts say they are seeing a range of unique approaches designed to optimize the power of new technology. “Creative approaches we’ve seen include previewing brick-and-mortar ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Cyber Monday deals on digital,” said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Tapad, in an interview with Ad Exchanger. “Another major retail chain is also running a countdown to Black Friday clock on digital – [a] clever use of the small screen.” In the end the trick is not to put too many eggs in one basket – not even the digital one.

Data shows that so-called “brick-and-click” stores that combine their online and offline presence logged the biggest wins this year, outselling their online-only competitors by a ratio of nearly 3-to-1, according to Adobe. As consumers come to expect more sophisticated brand messaging, the retailers who deliver will come out on top this holiday season.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *