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10 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Online Retail Stats

10 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Online Retail Stats


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Black Friday and Cyber Monday online retail stats from 2013 to 2022. We also have Black Friday 2022 stats and commentary.

Looking at past performance patterns within Black Friday sales data allows you to make the busiest sales day of the year much more effective. We’ve looked into 10 core Black Friday statistics and trends from 2020, until now, to help you prepare your Black Friday ecommerce strategy.

We provide statistics on shopping cart abandonment and we have also compiled sections around fashion ecommerce statistics, popular technology and online travel trends

We analyse ecommerce trends such as online traffic, sales, add-to-cart rates, popular products and much more. SaleCyle has also launched our latest Ebook, which you can download now:

Download the SaleCycle 2022 Black Friday Ecommerce Strategy & Stats Report.

Key Black Friday Stats 

  • 79% of online traffic on Black Friday was from mobile devices, over 5% greater than last year.
  • The average cart abandonment rate on Black Friday was 73%.
  • 10:00 was the peak time for Add-To-Cart rates on Black Friday.
  • 10:00 is the peak time for online sales on Black Friday. 
  • The Travel sector had the highest cart abandonment rates throughout the entire event. 
  • On Cyber Monday 20:00 was the lowest cart abandonment rate of the day on mobile devices at 72%.
  • The peak time for online traffic on Cyber Monday was 20:00
  • Close to 55% of online products were sold via a mobile device on Cyber Monday.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Online Sales Stats 

Consumers in the UK alone were found to have spent a total of 8.71 billion British pounds over the course of Black Friday in 2022, of which 4.81 billion has been spent online – which is significantly less than last year’s result. 

In America, however, Black Friday sales were up by 2.3% from last year, with shoppers spending $9.12bn online.

American consumers spent $8.9 billion online during Black Friday 2021, less than the average spend in 2020 when the average spend surpassed all previous records, by hitting $9bn, up from $7.4bn in 2019 and $6.2bn in 2018.

Shoppers spent $10.7bn on Cyber Monday 2021, which is about $100m shy of the record set in 2020 when sales reached $10.8bn, up from 2019 sales volume of $9.2bn.

The Black Friday 2021 Outlook 

Black Friday 2022 didn’t see as many online sessions or traffic, carts created or sales compared to last year, however, online sales value was roughly on par year-on-year – despite factors such as the 2022 economic crisis.

So with lesser volumes of customers and fewer baskets being created – we can assume that consumers in the 2022 event were spending more per session. According to SaleCycle data during the day, the average value of a purchase in 2021 was £108.10 and this year it had risen to £125.43.

The effects of a global pandemic in 2020, and in the following years, has caused many physical stores to close and move their business model online. According to research by pwc over 17,500 UK stores closed their doors for the last time in 2020. This has resulted in the worst decline on record. This is almost a third higher than 2019. 

What does this mean? Some companies have changed their business model to trade online only. This could have an impact on Black Friday 2022, as well as in the previous business years, because retailers are now for the most part set up online and more customers are choosing to shop online in general. We know this because the amount of online traffic has increased year on year – right up until right now in 2022.

What Can We Learn From Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2021 Data?

The benefits of Black Friday for retailers outweigh the negatives and here we will explore why.

According to SaleCycle 2022 Black Friday results we found there was a significant decrease in online traffic volumes. However, customer browsing has increased this year, with customers browsing through an average of 6.98 pages per visit compared to 5.91 on the previous Black Friday.

This may indicate customers are becoming more price conscious and considering their purchases more before committing to the spend, but also emphasises the need to have a good user experience and suitable interventions, so that they are not lost during their extended journeys.

There is also a major opportunity for promotional material to reach a more dedicated audience to secure a higher AOV sale.

Countdown Timers & Black Friday

Ecommerce countdown timers can be very powerful in busy retail periods, and time-limited sales events like Black Friday.

To show this, we studied clients both before and during Black Friday. These retailers were using countdown timers, some in cart recovery and cross-sell emails, others in on-site messages.

There are also other powerful conversion rate optimisation tools, such as using promo codes in emails during the Black Friday event and implementing a browse abandonment solution to capture data from the increased traffic, which will allow you to convert more browsers into sales. It’s also important to introduce the right microcopy around your website and in emails to convey the right messages to your audience.

Across the clients we have studied until now in 2022, the results prove the value of using countdown timers:

The average uplift in click-through rates from emails and messages was 30.49%.

Click-through rates increased by around 200% on average.

10 Black Friday Statistics

In this section we outline some core Black Friday statistics taken from our most recent data report. 

The insights from the Black Friday ecommerce strategy report have been harnessed from almost 500 million total online sessions. Analysing statistics can help map the most effective strategy.

For example, understanding the cart abandonment rates at certain times and days could lead to a more effective email campaign. Also, understanding when users add items to their cart, when they are most likely to purchase and when there will be a high amount of online traffic can lead to better decision making.

Online Traffic During Black Friday

The majority of online consumers use their mobile device to browse during Black Friday. During Black Friday 2022 we tracked over 11 million online sessions and from them we found 79% were mobile sessions. 

Using this information it’s evident that online retailers must test their mobile user-journey and they must adopt a mobile-first approach by focusing on their mobile user experience. 

Black Friday online sales value for gaining new customers, returning customers and filling your pipeline full of potential customers is huge and it’s an opportunity not to be missed. When retailers understand their peak times for online shopping and best days for online sales they are able to hit record-high sales volume by creating far more effective marketing plans.

Cart Abandonment Rates on Black Friday

Shopping cart abandonment is something that retailers have to learn to deal with. However, there are solutions and tools that can be used to recover online sales. But before implementing a solution it’s important to understand when cart abandonment is more likely to happen and in some cases we can find out why. 

During Black Friday cart abandonment dropped dramatically from an average of 81.66% (in the previous week) to an average of 74%, which equals a lot of missed opportunities given the significant volume of users. When implementing a cart abandonment strategy, research the best time to send abandoned cart emails, it could be the difference between high conversion rates and low.

Black Friday Add-To-Cart Rates 

When a user adds an item to their cart they are showing clear buying intent. Some may go on and purchase and some may abandon. Retailers may also be able to gain visibility on the peak time during Black Friday for add-to-cart rates. 

The SaleCycle Black Friday data found that 11:00pm was the peak for buying intent and add-to-cart rates.

Total Black Friday Online Sales Value 

Retailers are most interested in Black Friday online sales statistics. We found that mobile conversion rate is high with online sales resulting in an average of over 66%, whereas desktop online sales accounted for just 33.84%. 

Of them, the first and highest peak in online sales is 11:00 which then dips slightly until sales continue to drop off throughout the evening.

Popular Black Friday Products 

Black Friday holds the opportunity for consumers to grab hold of discounts in sectors with typically high AOVs – such as the Technology sector.

During Black Friday 2022, our client data concluded that the iPhone was the most popular mobile phone according to online sales, followed by the Samsung Galaxy. Although Apple sees a vast and growing number of sales year upon year, Android technology is slowly but surely becoming a more popular choice among tech consumers.

Jumpers and sweaters boasts the highest amount of fashion items sold, followed by Dresses. This should come as no surprise, as this season holds the need for warm winter-wear as well as festive celebrations (Christmas and other Holiday parties etc.) where dresses could be the most appropriate choice of clothing.

Sector by Sector 

SaleCycle tracks three core sectors: retail, fashion and travel. In this section we will look at a range of insights and statistics from each. 

Fashion Ecommerce

The Fashion sector tends to stand out amongst all others in ecommerce when it comes to sales periods – especially Black Friday – in both online activity and volume of sales. In this instance, the Fashion sector made up more than half of all Black Friday Sales taking just under 58% of sales .

When we look into this sector further (bar chart above), we can see which individual items stood out the most after this day of Black Friday sales.

It’s important for fashion retailers to understand this is a prime opportunity for their business. Using Black Friday or Cyber Monday promo codes, for example, could be a good tactic to use. 

Retail Ecommerce

Online baskets by product category shows us that the Retail sector had the highest add-to-cart rate on Black Friday with an average of 13.3%, with Fashion coming in at 12.9% and Travel with the lowest add-to-cart rate at 18.3%

Online traffic in the retail segment saw a 70.39% increase in online sessions on Black Friday compared to the previous week.

Travel Ecommerce

Even though the Travel sector saw the least amount of online sales, online baskets by product category shows us that the Travel sector had the highest add-to-cart rate on Black Friday with an average of 18.3%, with Retail coming in at 13.3% and Fashion with the lowest add-to-cart rate at 12.9%.

2021 Cyber Monday Statistics

Total Cart Abandonment For Cyber Monday

On Cyber Monday the 21:00 saw the lowest cart abandonment rates of the day at 76.49%, which is a slightly higher total abandonment rate than Black Friday, which stood at 78.75%.

Online Traffic 

The peak time for online traffic on Cyber Monday was 20:00. If we look at sessions by device we can see that mobile traffic also peaked at 20:00, whereas desktop traffic peaked at 11:00.

Products Sold 

61.47% of online products were sold via a mobile device on Cyber Monday 2022, which is slightly less than Black Friday mobile sales at 79%. 

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Online Sales Stats

Black Friday 2020 surpassed all previous records, by hitting $9bn, up from $7.4bn in 2019 and $6.2bn in 2018.

Black Friday Online Sales 2013 - 2020

Cyber Monday 2020 was an even bigger day for online shopping than Black Friday. Sales reached $10.8bn, up from 2019 sales volume of $9.2bn.

The Black Friday 2021 Outlook 

The global pandemic has caused many physical stores to close and move their business model online. According to research by pwc over 17,500 UK stores closed their doors for the last time in 2020. This has resulted in the worst decline on record. This is almost a third higher than 2019. 

What does this mean? Some companies have changed their business model to trade online only. This could have an impact on Black Friday 2021 because retailers are now for the most part set up online and more customers are choosing to shop online in general. We know this because the amount of online traffic has increased year on year.

What Can We Learn From Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2020 Data?

The benefits of Black Friday for retailers outweigh the negatives and here we will explore why. According to the SaleCycle 2021 Black Friday Ecommerce Strategy & Stats Report we found there is a significant increase in online traffic volumes. Not only this, but the extra online traffic also showed more intent to buy. 

For example the cart abandonment rate dropped from the yearly average of 81.01% to 76.68% and this was with much more volume.

There is also a major opportunity for promotional material to reach a new audience and new customers. This is important because retailers are able to store new customer data and nurture them for repeat business.

And finally, in 2020 Black Friday sales volume was 9bn, which is almost 20% more than 2019. If we analyse the trend we can see that since 2013 Black Friday sales have grown each year with no signs of slowing down. In fact, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become more of an online shopping event, providing a huge opportunity for retailers to introduce conversion rate optimisation tactics and other ecommerce marketing strategies.

Countdown Timers & Black Friday

Ecommerce countdown timers can be very powerful in busy retail periods, and time-limited sales events like Black Friday.

To show this, we studied clients both before and during Black Friday. These retailers were using countdown timers, some in cart recovery and cross-sell emails, others in on-site messages.

There are also other powerful conversion rate optimisation tools, such as using promo codes in emails during the Black Friday event and implementing a browse abandonment solution to capture data from the increased traffic, which will allow you to convert more browsers into sales. It’s also important to introduce the right microcopy around your website and in emails to convey the right messages to your audience.

11 Black Friday Statistics

In this section we outline some core Black Friday statistics taken from our most recent data report.

The insights from the Black Friday ecommerce strategy report have been harnessed from almost 500 million total online sessions. Analysing statistics can help map the most effective strategy. For example, understanding the cart abandonment rates at certain times and days could lead to a more effective email campaign. Also, understanding when users add items to their cart, when they are most likely to purchase and when there will be a high amount of online traffic can lead to better decision making.

Online Traffic

The majority of online consumers use their mobile device to browse during Black Friday. During Black Friday 2020 we tracked over 500 million online sessions and from them we found 70% were mobile sessions. 

Using this information it’s evident that online retailers must test their mobile user-journey and they must adopt a mobile-first approach by focusing on their mobile user experience. 

Black Friday online sales value for gaining new customers, returning customers and filling your pipeline full of potential customers is huge and it’s an opportunity not to be missed. When retailers understand their peak times for online shopping and best days for online sales they are able to hit record-high sales volume by creating far more effective marketing plans.

Black Friday 2020 online traffic by device

Cart Abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment is something that retailers have to learn to deal with. However, there are solutions and tools that can be used to recover online sales. But before implementing a solution it’s important to understand when cart abandonment is more likely to happen and in some cases we can find out why. 

During Black Friday cart abandonment dropped dramatically from an average of 81.01% to 76.63% which equals a lot of missed opportunities given the significant volume of users. When implementing a cart abandonment strategy, research the best time to send abandoned cart emails, it could be the difference between high conversion rates and low.

Add-To-Cart Rates

Popular Products

black friday cart abandonment by sector

Sector by Sector

SaleCycle tracks three core sectors: retail, fashion and travel. In this section we will look at a range of insights and statistics from each.

black friday online traffic in fashion
hotel vs airline black friday online traffic
Cyber Monday Cart Abandonment by Hour
Cyber Monday Online Traffic by Hour

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (US)

In the US, Black Friday online sales beat all previous records, reaching $7.4bn, up from $6.2bn on Black Friday 2018.

Cyber Monday 2019 was an ever bigger day for online shopping than Black Friday, with sales totalling $9.2bn, up 16.9% from $7.9bn in 2018.

Online shoppers spent an estimated $11 million per minute between 11 pm (E.T.) and midnight.

According to Adobe, Cyber Monday is expected to become the first day when consumers spend more than $3 billion on their smartphones.

Black Friday Online Sales (UK)

2019 Black Friday sales in Britain jumped 16.5% compared with the previous, according to data from Barclaycard, which processes nearly one in every three pounds spent in the UK.

Barclaycard said the volume of transactions on the Black Friday 2019 was up 7.2% year-on-year, while the volume of transactions on Cyber Monday rose by 6.9%.

Some retailers, including Boohoo and John Lewis enjoyed record sales periods, thanks to interest in their Black Friday promotions. These record sales periods also include an increased level of online traffic. When retailers understand their peak times for online shopping and best days for online sales they are able to hit record-high sales volume by creating far more effective marketing plans.

According to data from Love the Sales, more retailers than ever before promoted Black Friday deals. (6% more than 2018).

49% of all online goods went on sale, while the average discount on a Black Friday deal was 32% off (compared to 31% in 2018).

The UK’s online shoppers spent £1.49bn on Black Friday 2018.

UK Black Friday sales volume stats

Mobile Commerce and Black Friday

Black Friday has gradually become more of a mobile shopping event, and this year the majority of traffic to online retailers came from smartphones.

According to Adobe stats, 58% of traffic came from smartphones, up 7% on 2018 (see chart below).

However, people are still more likely to purchase on desktop, with just 36% of purchases being completed on mobile, compared to 59% on desktop. There is clearly still some work to be done by retailers to convert more mobile users and increase their mobile conversion rate.

Black Friday stats mobile commerce

Sales Patterns and Cart Abandonment on Black Friday

Sales events tend to drive down cart abandonment rates, as shoppers take advantage of deals before promotions end, or products are sold out.

On Black Friday 2018, we saw abandonment rates drop dramatically on the two biggest sales days, to 80.9% on Black Friday, and 82.8% on Cyber Monday.

Black Friday abandonment rates

This year, we saw the same pattern, with cart abandonment rates down to just 80% on Black Friday itself.

Data on sales volumes last November shows the effect that Black Friday has on ecommerce sales.

Sales are consistent throughout the month, before increasing in the few days before Black Friday.

(We’ve overlayed these charts with 2017 data. The data comes from clients in both the US and UK).

Black Friday stats sales volumes.

Sales volumes in 2018 were higher than 2017, but they peaked at similar times of day.

Sales volumes continued to be relatively high on the Saturday following Black Friday, as well as the Tuesday after Cyber Monday. This reflects the fact that retailers continued sales over a longer period.

Countdown Timers and Black Friday

Ecommere countdown timers can be very powerful in busy retail periods, and time-limited sales events like Black Friday.

To show this, we studied clients in the both before and during Black Friday 2018. These retailers were using countdown timers, some in cart recovery and cross-sell emails, others in on-site messages.

There are also other powerful conversion rate optimisation tools, such as using promo codes in emails during the Black Friday event and implementing a browse abandonment solution to capture data from the increased traffic, which will allow you to convert more browsers into sales. It’s also important to introduce the right microcopy around your website and in emails to convey the right messages to your audience.

Black Friday countdown timers

Across the clients we studied, the results proved the value of using countdown timers:

  • The average uplift in click-through rates from emails and messages was 30.49%.
  • Click-through rates increased by an average of 231%.
  • Conversion rates increased by 200%.

Amazon and Black Friday

According to Amazon, Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 were the two biggest shopping days in the retailer’s history, at least until Prime Day 2019.

Shoppers ordered more than 180 million items during the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.

In the UK, Hitwise stats show that Amazon took a 26% share of visits to UK online retailers around Black Friday 2018.

Black Friday stats top retailers

As our own consumer survey data shows, people use a variety of devices while shopping, moving from one to another depending on factors like convenience and accessibility.

Black Friday Conversions by Channel

Stats from Shopify show the best performing channels in terms of conversion rates over Black Friday weekend 2018.

Search Volumes and Trends

The PI Datametrics report on Black Friday Retail strategy contains some useful stats on search trends from 2018.

These are the top searched electrical products from last year:

The top generic searches around Black Friday:

Over the last 12 years, search volumes for ‘Black Friday’ have steadily increased.

Typically, search volumes begin to build mid-September, peaking in November. According to Google, Back Friday searches have increased by 80% over the last two years.

Online Sales Growth 2018

Online sales growth, of the ‘Cyber 5’ days, according to Internet Retailer.

Major US Retailers’ Share of Black Friday / Cyber Monday Sales

Stats from Rakuten show the dominance of Amazon over Black Friday, with 24.2% of all online sales. The nearest rival was Best Buy on 7%.

Black Friday stats: online retailers' sahre of sales

Amazon attracted a slightly bigger percentage of sales on Cyber Monday, at 25.2%, while Target had a much better Cyber Monday, growing its share of sales to 4.6%.

Cyber Monday stats share of sales for online retailers

Most Popular Product Categories

According to Hitwise stats, the Groceries & Alcohol and House & Garden vertical enjoyed the highest year on year growth on Black Friday week 2018 (12% and 8%, respectively).

SaleCycle are dedicated to helping ecommerce businesses discover key information, along with expert insights, to improve conversion rates across the board – from abandoned baskets to key buying times – especially during important sales events.

Watch and listen to this 2022 Black Friday Ecommerce Strategy & Stats Report Webinar as we explore key findings of the most recent Black Friday event, so that you can utilise the trends and behaviours from over 409,607,109 online user journeys for this year’s upcoming Black Friday date.

Reviewed by Brad Ward
Written by Brad Ward
— Updated on 16/11/2021

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Casey Turnbull

Casey is a Fashion Journalism graduate & ecommerce marketing executive at SaleCycle. Casey is committed to producing high quality content backed by in-depth research and data. She has experience developing content in a range of sectors including fashion, ecommerce and sports.