Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2021: What to Expect

Whether it’s Christmas movies in July or the premature bombardment of decoration displays at nearly every store even before Halloween departs, the holiday season is big business. And after an overly eventful 2020, retailers seem to have pushed aside the global events of last year and are chargi
ng full-speed ahead this season.

While stores (and some individuals) seem to embrace the early holiday emergence with radio stations starting to play those familiar jingles. But there’s no denying that for most of us, the holiday shopping season kicks off on Black Friday followed by Cyber Monday (and pretty much every day in between). Last year, with limitations on in-person shopping, the traditional Black Friday and Cyber Monday melded together to form one long 4-day cyber event.

But what are the trends that retailers and consumers can expect this season?

Statistics on Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2021

Tidio is an all-in-one customer service platform that combines live chat and chatbot tools. It surveyed more than 1,000 consumers to gauge how trends in 2021 would play out as a little normalcy returns to the retail scene.

Here are some of the upcoming Black Friday/Cyber Monday statistics based on those surveyed:

• 66% of online customers will spend more than last year, while 46% of in-store customers will spend more than last year.
• And while traditional in-store efforts were largely thwarted last year, 56% of consumers are eager to return to the lines outside the malls on Black Friday.
• You only get one chance to make a first impression. If customers have a bad experience on Black Friday, 23% of them would definitely never shop with that vendor again.
• Safety is still a factor as 75% of customers will forego the in-store experience to protect others or themselves.
• Consumers are keen to compare discounts (89% of those surveyed) to truly find the best deals.
• Even with the lockdown affecting the brick-and-mortar store efforts in 2020, as many as 64% of consumers will continue to shop online this season. And, 35% of those customers will look to social media to find deals.

Why It’s Called Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Historically speaking, the term “Black Friday” began in the 1960s and refers to retailers moving from the red (loss) and into the black (profit). Traditionally speaking, that Friday after Thanksgiving was reserved for just those brick-and-mortar stores. As technology emerged and grew, more and more consumers were looking to the web for shopping opportunities. In 2005, the National Retail Federation (NRF) started using the term “Cyber Monday” to denote the increase in activity online following the holiday weekend. And while the day after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, more and more consumers are looking to online shopping for convenience and value.

2019 and 2020 Statistics

According to the National Retail Federation, a record 189.6 million American consumers shopped from Thanksgiving day through Cyber Monday in 2019. By comparison, the numbers for 2020 were down to 186.4 million consumers taking advantage of the shopping experience during that same time period.

Competing In An Ever-Evolving Market

Early predictions indicate that this year will be bigger than last year, with consumers returning to physical retail locations as well as scanning the web for those alluring deals. However, smaller retailers are in constant competition with the retail giants like Amazon, Walmart and Target. Since the term Cyber Monday was coined almost 20 years ago, the growing trend of digital shoppers continues to expand. If you’re a retailer and looking for ways to increase your presence in the digital realm, The Brandon Agency (TBA) is a fully integrated firm that can assist you with all of your marketing needs including web design, e-commerce, brand strategy and more. To begin that conversation, contact us today.