Retailers See 5% Increase in Black Friday Orders Despite Growing Pressures of Inflation, According to Bluecore

Despite Black Friday promotions beginning earlier than ever this year, retailers saw an 11% increase in day-of Black Friday site traffic, 5% increase in number of orders, and a 1% increase in average order values compared to last year, according to new insights from Bluecore. The retail marketing platform reports that of all shoppers who made their first purchase from a brand in 2022, an average of 5% returned to make a second purchase with that brand on Black Friday. The complete report is available here.

For the fifth year in a row, Bluecore looked at shoppers' real-time and historical Black Friday shopping patterns, as well as their interactions with products (including purchases), across 138 retail brands and eight retail categories: Apparel (57), Sporting Goods & Outdoor (19), Home Goods (16), Footwear (11), Consumer Electronics (10), Gifts & Floral (9), Jewelry & Luxury (9) and Health & Beauty (7). The result is a comprehensive look at this year's day-of Black Friday behaviors, as well as a comparative look at Black Friday 2021.

Bluecore analyzed 729 million shopper events on brands' ecommerce sites, including shoppers viewing products and completing sales transactions. The resulting data was derived from 91 million first-party cookies and represents interactions with 4 million unique products, 3.2 million orders and $388 million in total sales.

Among the findings from Bluecore's Black Friday 2022 Report:

• Site traffic was up by 11% compared to Black Friday 2021. Traffic increased for every retail vertical with the exception of consumer electronics and footwear. By category: Apparel (+10%), Consumer Electronics (-17%) Footwear (+/- 0%), Gifts & Floral (+15%), Health & Beauty (+26%), Home Goods (+8%), Jewelry & Luxury (+23%) and Sporting Goods & Outdoor (+6%).
• More shoppers researched products before they purchased. Six percent (6%) more shoppers researched their purchases in advance of Black Friday compared to last year. Shoppers additionally viewed an average of 6 products, 12 times each before purchasing on Black Friday.
• An average of 37% of brands' total Black Friday shoppers were first time buyers, but first-time buyers decreased by 5% compared to last year.
• The number of shoppers buying for the fifth time or more increased by 17%. Fifth-time buyers and beyond made up the second highest group of shoppers, accounting for 31% of Black Friday purchases. Gifts and floral (44%), apparel (32%) and health and beauty (50%) brands saw the highest percentage of fifth-time buyers and beyond.
• Seventy-four percent (74%) of Black Friday ecommerce shoppers were unidentified by brands. Brands were only able to identify an average of 2% of the total new shoppers they encountered.
• Retailers focused on driving repeat purchases, not just attracting first-time shoppers. Of all shoppers who made a first purchase from a brand in 2022, an average of 5% returned to make another purchase on Black Friday. Brands were also able to entice 2.3% of shoppers who made a November purchase to make another purchase on Black Friday. Health & Beauty (6.6%), Gifts & Floral (6.5%) and Apparel (5.9%) brands experienced higher than average repurchases on Black Friday.

Average order values remained relatively consistent among first-time and repeat buyers. First time orders averaged a value of $128 while second-time shoppers and beyond spend an average of $118.

"Consumers started their holiday shopping earlier than ever this year and are navigating higher product costs due to inflation. These trends, paired with retailers' efforts to bring back their existing shoppers ? rather than simply attract new ones ? resulted in more loyal shoppers buying from brands they already trust," said Fayez Mohamood, CEO of Bluecore. "The sheer volume of shoppers who made repeat purchases during Black Friday speaks to the massive opportunity for retailers to grow through identifying anonymous shoppers and focusing on engagement to drive more purchases and long-term growth."

Bluecore's platform combines a deep understanding of shoppers' always-shifting behaviors with a comprehensive view of retailers' live product catalogs. The result is the ability to deliver precision messages to shoppers when they are most likely to buy, no matter where they are.

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About Bluecore

Bluecore is a retail marketing technology that transforms casual shoppers into lifetime customers for the world's largest retail brands ? and enables retailers to quickly turn data into revenue-generating campaigns. Through its patented shopper-and-product matching and the release of Bluecore Communicatetm, Bluecore Sitetm and Bluecore Advertisetm, brands can easily personalize 100% of communications delivered to consumers through their email, mobile, ecommerce, and paid media shopping experiences. Bluecore replaces manual processes with intelligent workflows and advanced predictive models, allowing brands to manage these communications through a single interface. In 2019, the company bet big on itself when it introduced the industry's first shared-success pricing model. It's now credited with doubling email revenue and increasing customer retention, lifetime value, and overall speed to market for more than 400 brands ? including Express, NOBULL, The North Face, Teleflora, and Bass Pro Shops.