Posts Tagged ‘Black Monday’

2008: Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

November 26, 2008

Google Insights for Search compares overall and regional search interest between the holiday retail shopping terms Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and refers to the first day of Christmas shopping at traditional brick and mortar stores, whereas Cyber Monday occurs exclusively online the Monday after Thanksgiving and kicks off the increase in internet holiday shopping.

Google Insights for Search can contrast searcher interest in two up to five terms from within different time periods.

The graph below show search interest in Black Friday 2007 vs. Cyber Monday 2007.

Clearly search interest was much greater for Black Friday during 2007 than Cyber Monday.

Black Friday 2007 vs. Cyber Monday 2007

Black Friday 2007 vs. Cyber Monday 2007

Although we haven’t reached the 2008 year end yet, it looks like Black Friday will again receive considerably more search interest in 2008 than Cyber Monday.

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

With Black Friday rapidly approaching, searchers are mostly searching for Black Friday Ads, Black Friday Sales, Black Friday Deals and both Walmart’s and Target’s Black Friday sales.

Regional search interest in Black Friday appears greater from within the central United States than from states on either the East or West coasts.

Black Friday Regional Interest

Black Friday Regional Interest

With consumers not quite as familiar with the term Cyber Monday as Black Friday, searchers confuse the two terms and search for “Black Monday” more than they search for Cyber Monday.

As with Black Friday, the majority of searches related to Cyber Monday are related Cyber Monday Ads, Deals and Sales.

Unlike Black Friday, search interest in Cyber Monday presently only comes from a handful of states – the states on average with the largest populations.

Cyber Monday Regional Interest

Cyber Monday Regional Interest

Because consumers aren’t clear which is the correct term – Black Monday or Cyber Monday – Internet Retailers who incorporate both Black and Cyber into their holiday online ads may see more traffic and thus sales than retailers who do not.

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Posted in Black Friday, Black Monday, Cyber Monday, Google Insights | 3 Comments »

Online Retail Sales A Bright Spot?

November 18, 2008

From Internet Retailer:

Online retail sales in October grew a scant 1% over sales in October 2007, Internet measurement company comScore Inc. reports.

“The overall softness in online retail spending was precipitated by curtailed spending across mid- to lower-income segments, with households earning less than $50,000 exhibiting negative spending growth compared to a year ago,” comScore says.

ComScore says it is the lowest monthly growth since it began tracking e-commerce in 2001 and October was the sixth consecutive month of lower growth than the month before.

According to comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni, “October represented the softest single month of online retail growth on record, and we can only hope that the recent sharp drop in oil prices will cause a continued easing of inflation and a strengthening in consumer spending as we enter the critical holiday shopping season.”

Data suggests offline retailers may not have cause for similar levels of optimism.

“The U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales, which include autos, gasoline stations and restaurants, decreased 3.3% in October from October last year. The National Retail Federation, the retailers’ trade association, reports that, excluding those three areas, sales decreased 1.3% year-over-year. Auto sales in October fell 25.9% from October a year ago, the Commerce Department reports.”

Online retailers should have a clear indication of whether or not they can expect to eke out a profit let alone break even this holiday season after Black Friday (November 28, 2008) and Cyber Monday (December 1, 2008) arrive respectively.

With the above figures taken into account, online retailers may be the only retail sector with a bright spot this holiday season.

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Posted in comScore, Internet Retailers, Online Retail Sales, Online Retailers | Leave a Comment »