This year’s Cyber Weekend was another strange one in the realms of consumerism. Last year, what with everyone sitting at home with nothing to do but online shop, Cyber Monday was cited as the largest day for digital sales ever recorded in the United States. This year, although we’re still struggling daily against the unpredictability of Covid, we’re in a different position as a society in that we’re not as locked down physically. This may have contributed to the decrease in consumer spending over the weekend.
Adobe Analytics found that Cyber Monday online sales dropped 1.4% from last year to $10.7 billion, falling for the first time ever.
What did we see ourselves?
We noted the eCommerce conversion rate over the weekend was up nearly 40% compared to the rest of November.
Listen to our podcast on prepping for January sales
What else did we see?
- There was a 10% increase in traffic compared to last year
- There was a slight drop in revenue (7%)
- Paid search saw an increase in traffic (+30%) and revenue (+4%)
- 15% of all November revenue was delivered over Cyber Weekend. This is a slight drop compared to last year (26% of all November revenue was delivered over Cyber Weekend in 2020)
- Unlike last year, Black Friday was the strongest day in terms of revenue
As we are seeing more and more, customers are shopping on mobile! Bigcommerce noted mobile accounting for 42% of all Cyber Week orders. Interestingly, they also noted mobile shopping on iPhones accounted for 122% more orders than on Android.
Why did performance drop slightly this year?
- Cyber Weekend is incredibly offer-driven. Overall, we noted fewer Black Friday offers from hotels this year – this had a direct impact on figures
- As we’ve seen time and time again over the last 18 months, any Covid-related announcements have an immediate impact on user confidence so in light of the recent announcements around further restrictions and the potential of more to come, we have seen bookings slow down somewhat
What now?
It’s time to start prepping for January!
Some tips for preparing your campaigns:
- Simplicity is key – the clearer your offer, the less room for confusion
- Be generous – we continually notice that the best performing campaigns are usually the ones with larger discounts. If you’re not in a position to offer 25% or more off, we recommend you avoid supporting the sale with campaign budget
- Highlight your ‘Limited Time Only!’ message – the best thing to do is to run your sale for two weeks, instead of running it for a month or longer
- Be consistent – it will help to avoid confusion, which is key when you’re trying to make a sale
- Have a specific landing page – your offer’s landing page should highlight everything your customers need to know about the offer
- Your 2022 budget – it will be important for you to continue being flexible with your budgets
