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October 12, 2009
Will Black Friday Become Cyber Friday?
One of the most significant online shopping days of the year is Cyber Monday, which, like Black Friday, follows Thanksgiving and unofficially marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. But new data that Yahoo! has released suggests that Black Friday is itself increasingly becoming a popular day for online shoppers.
Last year, while overall click-through rates were down for both days, conversions shot up 147% for Black Friday while they "only" increased 73% on Cyber Monday.
Let's face it, search marketers. You gotta play both days.
Anecdotally, I can testify to being online with my computer at midnight on Thanksgiving/Black Friday, soaking up a sweet deal on some scooters for my kids. I did it all from the comfort of my rental condo atop of a peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, which I can assure you is far preferable to the (unfortunately lethal) stomping grounds of big box stores across the land.
While the economy has consumers as uncertain as ever, I wouldn't be surprised if last year's Walmart deaths have people bumping those conversion rates even more this year. Make sure you've got great deals and free shipping. You might just save a life.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on October 12, 2009 10:30 PM
Comments
Black Friday already has a large components which only involves online stores. Last year Amazon, Dell, Best Buy, and Walmart all had an online compontent to their Black Friday deals. The hard part is that online you have less than 1% chance of actually getting any of those deals. For the millions of people who are going to line up, the web is only going to be a venue for them to complain about missing out and how to make their new gadgets work.
Now when people get back to work, you're going to be a big jump this Cyber Monday more than any other I'd imagine. Lots of people are holding out on big ticket packages just for this moment.
Once people in the middle of Nebraska has 20Mb/s internet then maybe things will go all web. Until then Black Friday will just be Black Friday with deals from online stores.
Chance Stevens October 16, 2009 1:50 AM
If I am allowed to post a plug here...
CyberFriday.com is currently on live auction at Sedo. The auction ends Nov 10th and the reserve is met. So, if you or any of your readers are interested in this domain for your business, here's your chance:
Thank You!
Steve November 4, 2009 8:13 AM
Traffic #s documented in other studies, combined with Yahoo's conversion study show that Cyber Monday isn't as big as Black Friday (and the days proceeding it) in terms of web traffic due to the research that goes into eventual offline purchases combined with some online deals as well.
Black Friday November 10, 2009 8:47 PM
Nathan's got it figured out - stay home where it's warm and safe and use sites like http://www.BlackFridayAds2009.info to find your deals before, during and after Black Friday.
Georgia November 12, 2009 9:15 AM
Personally i'm going to try to avoid the crowds this year and do most of my shopping online.
I found a good article with tips on how to shop online this year on Black Friday & Cyber Monday...here is the link:
Kelly November 20, 2009 2:42 PM
