Cyber Monday and Black Friday 2020 Statistics

 

Cyber Monday and Black Friday 2020 statistics have shown us how the global coronavirus pandemic affected this year’s events. This ongoing situation has caused a lot of challenges, difficulties, and uncertainty in people’s lives. 

The global e-commerce market has gone through major shifts under the same influence. While some businesses have experienced significant losses or have gone bankrupt, some have made high profits in 2020. 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) represent two highly profitable annual events. In 2020 Black Friday, digital sales grew 23%, and Cyber Monday digital sales shot up by 10% in the US compared to last year.

We have analyzed the performance and results of our clients’ accounts during Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Our findings are in the following categories: Amazon PPC, Amazon DSP, and Google Ads.

Amazon PPC Analysis 

Thanks to our analysis of Cyber Monday and Black Friday 2020 statistics, we could conclude which steps were profitable for many sellers on Amazon.

The Winners

• Deals - clients with deals for BFCM doubled their average sales. Besides optimizing existing campaigns and budgets, we focused on Sponsored Display campaigns since they made significant results for Prime Day. Increasing Placements seems to work for products with deals

• Sellers who didn’t hesitate to invest more - increasing Ad Spend during Black Friday and Cyber Monday resulted in a massive increase in Ad Sales that affected Total Revenue

• Sponsored Display Ads - lowest spend increase compared to the week before BFCM (18%) and an increase in sales similar to Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products (41%). This type of campaign turned out to be the most efficient regarding ROI. Almost the same happened during Prime Day 2020

• Sponsored Brands had the biggest increase in ad sales (44%)

• Exact match type - best match type with the biggest number of orders and best performance regarding ACoS

• Cyber Monday better than Black Friday in Ad Sales and Total Revenue

• A Halo Effect - some sellers continued with massively increased Ad and Total Revenue even ten days after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It happened thanks to the Christmas gift season until December 25th

The Losers

• No deals - sellers who didn’t include any deals 

• Specific Categories - supplements didn’t convert as expected

Results of BFCM compared to Prime day show that we had a lower amount of impressions. Also, a lower amount of clicks (around 20%) with almost the same amount of spend, and PPC sales. Ads revenue as % of the Total Revenue increased for BFCM. Total Revenue decreased, while the Total Order Item slightly increased.

Some Amazon sellers increased their Ad Sales and Total Sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday even without a deal. Several factors contributed to it, including the closure of the main US shopping malls because of the COVID-19 crisis. Customers primarily turned to e-commerce for catching major deals during BFCM. Consumerism, shopping havoc, and fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) accelerated sales to some sellers that didn’t have any deals. Still, this is the exception rather than the rule, and it’s better to have a deal.

Amazon DSP Analysis

We’ve based the following DSP tips on our clients’ Cyber Monday and Black Friday 2020 statistics.

• Fast Prospecting and Only Remarketing for users to increase sales and ROAS. Increase traffic during 1-2 weeks before BF and target by remarketing the next two weeks covering the BF weekend

• DSP - Last 360 days remarketing for customers who made purchases

Google Ads Analysis 

No matter what our clients were selling, we have found similar results for all Google campaigns related to Shopping campaigns. Google’s only weaknesses are one-day anomalies, where automated bidding or anything that is “SMART” is merely struggling with that one-day performance.

• Using Audiences in Search campaigns for maximizing the results in Q4. We increased the Conversion rates and Conversions

• Data-driven attribution gives credit for conversions based on how people engage with your various ads and decide to become your customers.It uses your account data to determine which ads, keywords, and campaigns significantly impact your business goals. You can use data-driven attribution for the website, store visits, and Google Analytics conversions from Search Network campaigns. Thanks to switching to this model, while we run all campaign types, we have a better understanding of the results, and the optimizations are more precise

Final Thoughts 

We’ve gathered some important insights into our clients’ performance based on Cyber Monday and Black Friday 2020 statistics. As we mentioned above, the sellers who had deals and were ready to invest more have seen bigger profits and success from BFCM 2020. Considering that the current pandemic has caused more people to stay at home and spend more time inside and that the COVID-19 crisis has increased the number of online purchases, some sellers have increased sales even without offering deals.   

According to Amazon

Amazon's customers have made this year’s holiday shopping season, the company’s biggest so far. To boost sales and increase profits, they have started this year’s holiday season earlier, just after Prime Day, with deep discounts and deals starting from October 15th. 

Shopping for products related to self-care, nesting at home, and cozy comfort were the USA’s top trends during this holiday period. Beauty, Home, and Fashion were trendy shopping categories, and customers have also made substantial purchases in Toys, Sports, and Pets categories. 

Amazon’s determination to prepare for the holiday rush is why the company has spent several months preparing for the BFCM and hired an additional 100,000 workers in September.

About the author

Anja is the Copywriter at Sellers Alley. She has previous work experience with USA clients, including America's Funniest Home Videos, and international companies as a Social Media Specialist, Community Manager, and Copywriter. Her inquisitive mind and analytical approach present excellent assets to her work with Amazon and Google platforms.  She loves to send memes and useful online articles to her fellow workers.