Despite Black Friday promotions beginning earlier than typical this year, retailers saw an 11% increase in day-of Black Friday site traffic, a 5% increase in the number of orders and a 1% increase in average order values versus the sales period a year earlier, according to a study from retail marketing platform Bluecore.
For the fifth year running, Bluecore looked at shoppers’ real-time and historical Black Friday shopping patterns, as well as their interactions with products, including purchases, across 138 retail brands and eight retail categories: Home Goods, Apparel, Sporting Goods & Outdoor, Footwear, Consumer Electronics, Gifts & Floral, Jewelry & Luxury, and Health & Beauty. Home Goods consumer interactions were up 8% versus Black Friday 2021 and up 68% from an average day in 2022.
Retailers didn’t identify the overwhelming majority of shoppers engaging with their websites, which limits the ability for follow-up consumer marketing. In the Home Goods category, that translated into 16% already identified, 1% newly identified and 83% unidentified.
Among the study findings:
- Of all shoppers who made their first purchase from a brand in 2022, an average of 5% returned to make a second purchase with that same brand on Black Friday.
- Site traffic gained 11% compared to Black Friday 2021. Traffic increased for every retail vertical with the exception of consumer electronics and footwear with Home Goods up 8%, as noted above.
- About 6% more shoppers researched their purchases in advance of Black Friday year over year. Shoppers viewed an average of six products 12 times each before purchasing on Black Friday.
- An average of 37% of brands’ total Black Friday shoppers were first-time buyers, but first-time buyers decreased by 5% versus the year past.
- The number of shoppers buying for the fifth time or more increased by 17% and made up the second-highest group of shoppers after first-timers, accounting for 31% of Black Friday purchases.
- Average order values remained relatively consistent among first-time and repeat buyers, as first-time orders averaged a value of $128 while second-time shoppers and beyond spent an average of $118.
Bluecore analyzed 729 million Black Friday shopper events on brands’ e-commerce sites, the company maintained, including shoppers viewing products and completing transactions. It derived the resulting data from 91 million first-party cookies representing interactions with four million unique products, 3.2 million orders and $388 million in total sales.
“Consumers started their holiday shopping earlier than ever this year and are navigating higher product costs due to inflation,” said Fayez Mohamood, CEO of Bluecore, in announcing the study results. “These trends, paired with retailers’ efforts to bring back their existing shoppers — rather than simply attract new ones — resulted in more loyal shoppers buying from brands they already trust. The sheer volume of shoppers who made repeat purchases during Black Friday speaks to the massive opportunity for retailers to grow through identifying anonymous shoppers and focusing on engagement to drive more purchases and long-term growth.”
