The last quarter of the year is also known to be the most important for all companies selling on online marketplaces.
Black Friday and Cyber Week in general have, especially with the pandemic, changed the habits of consumers, who wait for this important week to anticipate Christmas shopping as well.
How did sales perform in Q4 2023 and in particular during the Cyber Week?
Global online sales during Cyber Week 2023 increased by 6% year-on-year to $298 billion.
After poor deals at the beginning of the season, bigger discounts enticed more discerning consumers to buy during Cyber Week.
On Black Friday in particular, online sales increased year-on-year by 8% both in Europe and globally.
While on Cyber Monday, online sales increased by 5% globally and 10% in Europe, also year-on-year.
Discounts rose to an average of 27% globally, representing the best deals of the festive season. The vertical sectors with the highest discount rates globally were:
- Makeup (38%)
- General clothing (33%)
- Skin Care (33%)
- Sportswear (32%)
In Italy, Cyber Monday on Monday 27 November saw a 10% year-on-year growth in online sales.
During the whole week, online traffic in our country increased by 4%.
The main channel for online purchases
Italians are confirmed as mobile first: during Cyber Monday, 80% of the italian traffic came from mobile compared to 75% internationally.
Social traffic on mobile was a crucial channel, representing 10% of all referrals to retailers’ websites.
79% of Cyber Week e-commerce traffic came from mobile phones, up from 76% in 2022.
The role of AI
An additional point on the increase in online shopping is also being driven by artificial intelligence, which has helped to fuel online growth.
Some $51 billion of global sales have been influenced by AI.
Further push to purchases
Increased transparency of discounts also led to fewer returns, which dropped to 5% compared to the previous Cyber Week.
Thanks to better experiences and attractive discounts, single-brand retailers experienced an online growth of twice as much (8%) as multi-brand retailers (5%), with 29% and 17% respectively.
Consumers used alternative payment options such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) to fulfill purchases, with an 8% increase in orders year-on-year.
Automation gave time back to retailers and consumers, not surprisingly chatbot messages during the Cyber weekend increased by 79% globally.
Consumer insight
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events attract younger shoppers every year.
60% of Gen Z consumers and 55% of Millennials plan to shop during Black Friday, compared to only 30% of Baby Boomers and 36% of Gen X.
Shopping priorities and analysis of consumption
What were the shopping priorities during this promotional season?
Among the most purchased categories were: clothing, appliances, toys, jewellery, and personal care products.
Family is at the top of the list of priorities, taking advantage of discounts to meet family needs, but not only. In the US, for example, purchases mainly involved gifts in the run-up to the Christmas holidays.
Second on the priority list are ‘wellness and physical health‘ and ‘mental health‘, reflecting the increasing focus on physical and mental health.
