With the frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday settled down, we checked in on Criteo’s exclusive commerce dataset from 18,000 ecommerce players across 100 countries to assess how consumers are shopping so far this holiday season.
Here are the top five trends that shaped this year’s Cyber Weekend.
1. Consumers increased their shopping during the weeks leading up to Black Friday.
During the first three weeks of November, online retail transactions increased +7% globally, continuing a steady uplift from September (+3.1%) and October (+5%).
Retailers in APAC observed the strongest increase out of all regions, with their online transactions increasing +15% during the three weeks leading up to Black Friday. In particular, transactions rose +7% in South Korea and +4% in Japan.
EMEA retailers saw a +7% increase. Online transactions rose +11% in the United Kingdom, +8% in Germany, and +6% in France.
Retailers in the Americas observed modest shopping before the shopping event, as online transactions increased +2%, indicating that shoppers were waiting for Black Friday more than in recent years past. However, Brazil surpassed the region’s levels, and their online transactions rose +11% during the three-week period before Black Friday.
EMEA Daily Indexed Metrics in All Retail, October 2023 – November 2023
2. Black Friday shopping reached a new high.
Online transactions skyrocketed +12.3% worldwide on Black Friday.
The sales frenzy was particularly strong in APAC this year, as online transactions in the region were up +25.5% and traffic was up +13.6%. Notably, online transactions in Japan rose +16%, indicating that the global shopping event is growing more popular than ever here.
In the Americas, Black Friday shopping continues to rise as year-on-year sales were up +5%. Online transactions and traffic also rose +9.8% and 11.7% respectively.
Retailers in Europe observed significant growth, with a year-on-year growth of +12%. Online transactions rose +6.4% and traffic increased 7.5% in this region.
3. US Black Friday sales soared across all verticals.
All main retail verticals experienced year-over-year growth in online transactions in the US this Black Friday.
Fashion and Department Stores saw particularly strong growth, with their online transactions up +12% YoY. Toys transactions followed closely behind, with +11% YoY growth.
Transactions were up year-over-year +6% for Sporting Goods and +3% for Home Goods.
US YoY Sales for Top Verticals on Black Friday
4. Total Cyber Weekend sales grew year-on-year.
Across all regions, retailers saw their online sales surpass last year’s Cyber Weekend numbers. Sales were up YoY in APAC by +18%, in EMEA by +5%, and in the US by +3%.
Online traffic also increased YoY during this Cyber Weekend in APAC (+10%), EMEA (+7%), and the US (+9%).
Although revenue increased YoY in both APAC (+12%) and EMEA (+7%), retailers in the US observed stable revenue that remained the same as last year’s numbers.
APAC Indexed Sales, Cyber 6 (Friday to Wednesday), 2023 vs 2022
5. The overall average path to purchase was over 2.5 weeks.
On average, first-time buyers for a retailer in the US took 18.3 days from a first visit on a product description page to a completed transaction between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
However, the 25% of Black Friday weekend shoppers with the fastest path to purchase only took three hours to complete a purchase on average. Meanwhile, the 25% with the longest path to purchase took 45 days to complete a purchase on average.
US Path to Purchase – November 24-27, 2023
Stay up to date on more holiday events this peak shopping season.
For more data-driven insights on how consumers around the world are shopping during this holiday season, read our trends recap for this year’s Singles’ Day and Diwali.
