While marketers and brands have been in the weeds planning for the holiday season for months, consumers have officially kicked off holiday shopping, visiting brick and mortar stores and shopping online on the days in between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, known as Turkey 5, or T5. Despite looming economic uncertainty, shoppers broke records with a reported $9.8 billion in Black Friday sales, according to Adobe Analytics.
A trend that may never go out of style: many consumers were shopping for electronics and big ticket items such as televisions. For Code3 clients, our Search Strategists saw the home and kitchen category account for 50% of ad sales on Black Friday.
While Black Friday and the days following are traditionally the kickoff to the critical Q4 shopping season, Amazon, alongside many brands, launched deals earlier than ever, even going as far as to coin a new “T11” term, referencing 11 days of deals. This may have paid off, as many consumers began shopping earlier than in the past. 60% of Code3 clients running search had a stronger conversion rate and cost per click (CPC) leading into T5 than T5 itself.
One of the strongest category performers during T5 was a somewhat surprising one: grocery. The grocery category, not one that typically participates in deals during tentpole events, was a strong performer, driving a conversion rate above 20%. Significant grocery category sales was also a trend we saw during summer’s Prime Day and Prime Big Deals Day in October. This trend is an indicator that shoppers are not just looking for holiday shopping, but taking advantage of sale prices wherever they can, even for everyday items.
Last year, data indicated many shoppers were waiting for the best deal possible - passing on Black Friday deals in hopes of better pricing on Cyber Monday and beyond. This year, shoppers were ready to pull the trigger ASAP. Code3 Search Strategists saw the highest average order value throughout T11 on Black Friday, indicating consumers were ready to secure their bigger ticket items as soon as deals went live, instead of waiting. Additionally, conversion rates increased 7.5% year over year for Cyber Monday, and while last year conversion rates dropped 4.8% from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, this year we only saw a 3.1% drop.
There may have simply just been better deals earlier this year. For some Code3 clients, cost efficiency was down a bit YoY, despite driving more incremental units. This was because they were more aggressive with deals, meaning a lower average order value ultimately impacted sales volume, despite more actual orders coming through.
Unsurprisingly, competition was fierce during these critical days. Overall Cost per Clicks (CPC) were up slightly, by 2%, when in comparison to 2022. In line with that, conversion rates increased YoY for the time period. However, CPCs were down in comparison to both 2023 Prime Days.
The holiday marathon has just begun, and there is still plenty of time for brands to make an impact during this critical time of year. Brands that are nimble and can react to their successes and failures during T5 still have time to drive sales. Continue the momentum with these four tasks recommended by our Search Strategists:
2023 is coming quickly to a close and the finish line is near! Brands that are adjusting Q4 strategy day-to-day will be sure to finish strong and reap the benefits of their hard work. If you could use a strategic partner for 2024 and beyond, contact us today.