Black Friday is a big deal: internet users spent more time on retail sites and apps on Black Friday than any other day in 2023. And, it’s the biggest promotion period in the run-up to Christmas – so there’s no doubt that savvy shoppers are capitalising on this moment to prepare for the big day itself.
We wanted to dig into the data to see what trends and insights we could find on Black Friday, like which age group spent the most time scrolling through deals? And which brands saw the biggest spikes in engagement?
We’ve used Ipsos iris to see what happened last Black Friday, to shed some light on what we can expect to see this year.
That Friday Feeling
Ipsos iris data shows that Black Friday saw the most time spent on the retail category of any day in 2023, but the second most time was recorded just five days earlier, on Sunday 19th November.
There’s nothing particularly special about this Sunday – it doesn’t have a catchy moniker like Black Friday or Cyber Monday – but it is a sign of the growing scale of Black Friday. In 2023, just as in the two years’ prior, we saw time spent on retail sites rise above the daily average for November a full week before Black Friday.
This is largely due to the fact many retailers are launching their ‘Black Friday’ offers earlier and finishing their sales events later to try and cut through the noise and prolong high traffic levels. The likes of John Lewis saw time spent on its site and app peak on the Monday before Black Friday, whereas for Marks & Spencer it was the Sunday after. Meanwhile, Amazon actually saw more time spent on its site and app when it launched its sale on the Friday before Black Friday, which poses more existential questions – what makes Black Friday, Black Friday?
Deals for all
The total time spent shopping on Black Friday in 2023 was up 16% compared to the daily average for November. When we break this down by demographics, we see that the rise was higher amongst men (+19%) compared to women (+14%), though it is worth pointing out that women still accounted for 63% of all time spent shopping online on the day.
The increase in time spent shopping was relatively even across age bands, though 15-24 year olds narrowly saw the biggest increase (+19%) on Black Friday, followed by 45-54 year olds (+18%).
There wasn’t a clear pattern around income, with the largest rise in time spent on retailer sites and apps seen among those earning £50,000-£69,999 (+23%), followed by those earning under £20,000 (+19%), suggesting that engagement with Black Friday doesn’t appear to be closely related to income level.
Interestingly, one of the biggest gaps we saw was around sexual orientation: time spent on retail sites and apps was up 17% among heterosexual internet users, compared to just 5% for those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or those that identify in another way.
Top of the Shops
Amazon is comfortably the biggest online retailer in the UK, and Black Friday is no exception. The Amazon app alone accounted for one in every nine minutes spent shopping on Black Friday last year.
However, in part due to its size and in part due to the fact its sale activity is stretched over such a long period, Amazon does not see the biggest increase in time spent on Black Friday itself. Of the top 20 biggest online retailers, this accolade sits with Dunelm.
Time spent on the Dunelm site and app increased by 151% on Black Friday compared to the daily average time spent for November. This was largely driven by women aged 65+, who accounted for 53% of all time spent on Dunelm on Black Friday, compared to a daily average of 23% for November as a whole.
Currys PC World was the only other brand in the top 20 to see time spent more than double on the day (+141%). Women were again a driving factor, but this time in a slightly younger age bracket: women aged 35-44 accounted for 31% of time spent on the Currys PC World site on Black Friday, compared to 7% for November overall. Argos (+85%), Boots (+79%) and John Lewis (+54%) all also saw significant increases in time spent on their brands online on the day of Black Friday.
Black Friday is the biggest day of the year for retail brands online, but it’s also one of the busiest, which can make it difficult to cut through. Our data suggests there’s a few ways of standing out: whether that’s starting your sale earlier like Amazon, or focusing efforts on a day either side of Black Friday, like John Lewis and M&S.
Focusing on a specific audience could also bear fruit, with the likes of Dunelm enjoying a marked increase in engagement on Black Friday, driven in large part by an older, female audience.
Ipsos iris data can help brands to understand the retail category, competitor activity, and audience behaviour, to better plan for and navigate a complex landscape and ensure that they’re a big deal on Black Friday.