If you're a business owner or marketer, the sentence ‘it's almost Black Friday’ can have you quaking in your boots. But, this year we've got you. We rounded up all the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday stats and trends so you can have the best sale season yet.
Grab your virtual trolley and let's go shopping for some stats to boost your BFCM marketing strategy.
- What is BFCM?
- Key Black Friday marketing and trends statistics
- BFCM 2023: Consumer spending statistics
- Black Friday mobile sales & advertising statistics
- Why SMS should be a part of your Black Friday marketing plan
What is BFCM? BFCM stands for Black Friday Cyber Monday, which is one of the biggest sales events in the world. Most people know Black Friday Cyber Monday as a weekend of frenzied shopping. However for business owners, BFCM is a huge opportunity to make sales and win new customers.
It all starts the weekend after Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November. BFCM is the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season.
Key Black Friday marketing and trends statistics
In 2023, we saw a record spend around the world along with a dominance in mobile shopping. And, brands took advantage of customers’ smartphone habit by tailoring Black Friday marketing and communication to match.
- Global online sales hit a record $281 billion during Cyber Week 2022.
- Nearly half (48%) of online sales were made on smartphones during BFCM 2022, up from 44% in 2021.
- Brands sent 68% more SMS on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday, resulting in a 57% increase in orders.
- SMS has a 98% open rate and 45% response rate. Comparatively, emails have a 45% open rate and 6% response rate.
BFCM 2023: Consumer spending statistics
Sales were well and truly up in the BFCM 2023 season compared to 2023. The statistics below show some of the consumer spending highlights:
- Adobe Analytics reported a record $9.8 billion of sales during Black Friday, which was a 7.5% increase from the previous year.
- During Cyber Monday, Consumers spent $12.4 billion, a 9.6% increase from 2022.
- Early sales were a winner with customers. 55% of consumers took advantage of early holiday sales. While 35% shopped during the week leading up to Thanksgiving.
- E-commerce grew 7.75% in the third quarter of 2023. While total retail grew 2% year over year.
- Black Friday eCommerce sales increased 8.5% year over year, while in-store sales increased 1.1%.
- Retailers offered an average of 30% off during Cyber Week. Average selling prices across all categories grew 4% in 2023 versus 2022.
- Black Friday retained its crown as the biggest sales day, with online sales eclipsing Cyber Monday since 2019.
Black Friday mobile sales & advertising statistics
Mobile advertising was a clear favourite with marketers last year. And as a tactic, it stacks up considering how many shoppers buy via their mobile handset. The following stats show the mobile advertising opportunity this year:
- Mobile advertising spending hit a record $362 billion worldwide in 2023.
- Experts estimate mobile ad spending will hit nearly $400 billion by 2024.
- The mobile marketing market size is expected to increase five-fold by 2030.
- About 64% of all digital ad funds are devoted to mobile today.
- The U.S. remains the leading mobile ad market in terms of total expenditure.
Why SMS should be a part of your Black Friday marketing plan
Black Friday Friday marketing is crowded. Every message and campaign counts, which is why SMS has become an essential tactic for any BFCM strategy. Check the stats:
- One in three people who receive a CTA by text act on it, and 47% of those make a purchase.
- Far more people open texts than emails: SMS has a 98% open rate, while emails have a 45% open rate.
- SMS messages have a 45% response rate compared to emails at just a 6% response rate.
- Consumers are more likely to respond to cart abandonment SMS than email, with click-through rates of 36% compared to 3.2% respectively.
- Coupons delivered via text are redeemed 10 times more than any other channel.
- Half of consumers view promotional coupons as the most effective SMS messages they receive.
- Ninety percent of texts are opened within three minutes.
- More consumers are texting brands: 30% of millennials and 25% of Generation Z say they’ve contacted a brand via text.
- More than 50% of customers prefer transactional SMS to other customer support channels.
- Consumers deem 50% of SMS marketing messages that include a call to action “useful.”
Unsure how to get started? Check out our guides on how to prepare your online store or physical retail store.
Boost Black Friday sales with SMS
Want to add text messaging to your marketing strategy this sale season? We can help you get set up for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and beyond. Sign up for a free trial to test text messaging for yourself. Our 24/7 support team is always online to help.
Bring on BFCM.
