If you’ve been busy lately it’s no surprise – with England in lockdown this was always predicted to be the biggest Black Friday ever and data from multichannel management experts Linnworks confirms this was the case.
Overall, Linnworks have seen a 40% increase in orders in Nov 2020 vs Nov 2019 driven most likely by a switch to online buying habits as a result of COVID. With that being said, this increase has been driven mostly by the weeks in the lead up to Black Friday week (as can be seen on the graph above) whereas orders did not grow as much as expected on Black Friday. This is likely driven by the fact that consumers have been shopping earlier in the month as retailers have held lengthier Black Friday Events.
Frankly all the large retailers have been trying to spread out Black Friday for years anyway. No one wants a single day with an unprecedented deluge of orders and Black Friday had already turned into Black Friday week before the pandemic hit. Then, this year, Amazon decided to run a full three weeks of early Black Friday sales before Black Friday week itself.
Top 10 Best Selling Categories
People have been spending lockdown doing up their homes, buying pets, & drinking more alcohol!
Top 2 verticals for YoY growth in Nov are lighting & building supplies
The story here is people are spending more time in their homes and so are investing in their home to get the most out of it.
Wine & Alcohol increase 156%
As bars and restaurants are closed, consumers are heading online to get their weekly wine fix.
Large Appliance increase 141%
Interesting one, assume that as people are spending more time at home, they have been buying new appliances to make their life easier (think Dishwashers etc). Also as Winter kicks in and now consumers spend all their time at home, more likely you’ll need a boiler replacement.
Tools
Tools go hand in hand with building supplies and Food & Beverages so this is easily explainable
Office
If you’re working from home it follows that you’re going to need office furniture and supplies…
Surge in pet supplies
People have been buying more pets during lockdown and we Brits love to spoil our furry fiends.
One Response
I’m afraid that in future, the whole Black Friday agenda will turn into unbearable chaos for both retailers and consumers. What started as a great, one-day tradition in the US, has now become a global marketing marathon that goes for weeks on.
I do believe that the Black Friday magic is already lost – yes, people do shop online more during the Black Friday week and they get good deals out of it, but for many retailers, it’s a question of giving away stock at rock bottom prices, or even at a loss.
And the whole marketing noise is what makes it even worse – companies started to advertise Black Friday in weeks before the actual Black Friday, the Facebook feed was full of discounted offers, with very few creative and good marketing campaigns.
I know it’s just me, but I’m not a huge fan of Black Friday and actually didn’t do any special offers for it.