Black Friday 2022 and Affiliate Marketing: Insights and Trends

“Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping” – this quote by a famous American actress is a true epitome of every shopper around the world. As Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost at our door, being an affiliate marketer, you should definitely know where to send your audience for shopping – because if they’re happy, you’re gonna be too wink wink. That’s why we’ve accumulated the list of high-converting affiliate programs for upcoming shopping extravaganza, and all other useful stats you might need. Let’s roll into Cyber 5 well-prepared and all ready!  

Cyber 5 Stats

The five-day period  between Thanksgiving (Nov. 25) and Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) known as Cyber 5 has been traditionally the busiest e-commerce season in North America, where it actually originated. The shopping extravaganza starts with Thanksgiving preps and then smoothly turns into Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales when people usually buy something long-desired for themselves or stocking up on gifts for upcoming holidays, while so many of users (including us for sure) just fall victim to the last-minute impulse purchases.  

Let’s see what it was like in the U.S. last year:

Black Friday sales

1. Online sales on Black Friday amounted to $8.9 billion in 2021 (Source: Adobe)

2. The average person spent $301.27 on Black Friday purchases in 2021. (Source: Webtribunal)

3. A third of people in the US were willing to get up early to get the best deals on Black Friday. (Source: Webtribunal)

4. The biggest share of Black Friday searches came from the U.S., followed by Germany, Brazil, the UK, Spain, Canada and other countries, indicating that Black Friday is growing in popularity worldwide with the tradition of November sales being very much entrenched in other countries too. (Source: Statista)

5. Nearly 180 million people went shopping during the 2021 Black Friday holiday season, which was significantly more than the expected number of 108 million. (Source: Webtribunal, Statista)

6. Mobile traffic on Black Friday 2021 accounted for 74.17% of the total compared to 42% in 2019. (Source: Adobe, litCommerce)

7. Half of the people in the US got shopping out of the way before Thanksgiving. (Source: Webtribunal)

8. 71% of Small Business Saturday shoppers specifically aim to support small businesses.

Cyber Monday sales

1. Cyber Monday saw $10.7 billion in online sales in 2021.
2. The final price point of consumers on Cyber Monday shopping carts increased by 13.9% and by 19% in the whole shopping season overall, which means that people are buying bigger ticket items and of course that e-commerce prices have been up for more than a year. (Source: Adobe)
3. Discount levels on Cyber Monday were in general lower than a year before.
4. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) usage was surprisingly on the rise during Cyber Monday: the revenue from BNPL services increased by 21% YoY and the amount of orders increased by 1% YoY. (Source: Adobe)
5. Curbside pickup was used in 18% of all online orders on Cyber Monday. This high demand for curbside pickup indicates the value of physical stores. According to Adobe’s estimates, the use of this service will be 25% through November but will peak at 35% just before Christmas as consumers shop for last-minute gifts. (Source: Adobe)
6. Mobile traffic accounted for just 39.7% of online sales compared to desktop. However 57% share of web visits was from mobile devices, which indicates that people were using their phones to browse deals before purchasing. (Source: Adobe)

Consumer behavior facts

• Most items were put to the cart on Black Friday at 12.00 (U.S. local time)
• Online traffic skyrocketed by 35.28% in the night time
• The peak hour of Black Friday was 10.00 (U.S. local time)
• The highest rate of cart abandonment was in airline and high-end fashion segments
• 87% of shoppers name a good deal as an important factor when deciding which brand or company to buy from
• For 85% of shoppers, product information and pictures are crucial when deciding which brand or company to buy from
• For 59% of shoppers, mobile shopping option is highly important when deciding if they should buy from a particular brand or company.

Sources: litCommerce, 2021; Thing with Google, 2019.

Spread out spending on Cyber 5 or why you shouldn’t put “all eggs in one basket” 

According to Adobe Digital Insights, Cyber Monday was the shopping day with the highest e-commerce sales during the 2020 holiday season in the United States, peaking to 10.8 billion U.S. dollars. Black Friday ranked second, with 9 billion dollars in online sales. However, in 2021 U.S. consumers spent $10.7 billion Cyber Monday, $100 mln down compared to 2020. Black Friday spending also resulted with $8.9 billion vs. $9.0 billion in 2020. 

Thanksgiving weekend online shopping revenue (in billion U.S.dollars) 

Source: Adobe Digital Insights

But don’t rush to any conclusions just yet. 

The numbers we see don’t mean that shoppers are starting to cut back on their holiday spending – they’re merely spreading it out. According to Adobe Digital Insights, during Cyber 5  season (Between November 1 and November 29), the consumers in the U.S. spent $109.8 billion on online shopping, which is 11.9% more compared to 2020.

Interestingly, 22 days in November 2021 have exceeded $3 billion in online sales compared to the same sum being spent in just 9 days in November 2020. This means users started to spread their spending more evenly. Also, keep in mind that, in 2021 a lot of online stores started spreading out deals over the entire Thanksgiving week or even further.

As the Director at Adobe Digital Insights explained this, with online stores beginning to offer deals in early October, a lot of consumers jumped right into them without waiting for sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. (Source: Adobe Blog)  

As you see, targeting only one particular shopping event might not be the best strategy this year. Consumers are spreading their spend across the season, and also try to get the most out of  the major Cyber Weekdays by maximizing their benefits during the strongest discount days.

That’s why, start with Thanksgiving or even Singles Day, if it’s a thing in your geo, and consistently prepare for every upcoming shopping day. Thus, you will be able to generate more sales on some better days while making up for less successful periods.

What do people buy on Cyber 5?

2021 Trends

Adobe Digital Insights highlights the following categories of products which became a huge drive behind 2021 Cyber Monday sales in the U.S.: 

• toys (sales increased up by nearly 11 times compared to pre-season levels in Sept. 2021)
• microwave ovens (up by 9.6 times)
• small kitchen appliances (up by 7.1 times)
• gift cards (up by 7 times)
• books (up by 7 times)
• video games (up by 6 times)
• baby/toddler products (up by 6 times)

In general the sales of these products soared up on Cyber Monday in the U.S.:

• Toys: Hot Wheels, Nerf toys, Baby Alive, Paw Patrol, Squeakee toys and Tamagotchi Pix
• Video Games: Just Dance 2022, Mario Party Superstars, Spider Man: Miles Morales, FIFA 22, Metroid Dread
• Electronics: AirPods, Apple Watches, Apple Pencils, laptops (HP, Lenovo and Dell), Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite, Xbox Series S, Oculus Quest 2, TVs (Sony and Samsung)

Source: Statista

Among the most searched products in November 2021 for Black Friday worldwide, we can see that smartphones, gadgets and other electronics were the most desired stuff by people all around the world. According to another data, a 65-inch television was Black Friday’s fourth most popular item in 2021 for the U.S.

2022 Trends

• Electronics is expected to drive $49.8B dollars in spend, which will be 2.9% higher than in 2021. Strong discounts are expected for the category this year. 
• Apparel is expected to drive $40.7B in spend. 
• Grocery will drive $13.3B in revenue, with a 10.5% increase compared to 2021.
• Toys, holiday décor (part of home and garden), and sporting goods are among the products with the strongest positions.
• Baby products as well as pet products and appliances are very much expected to be in the top too. 

The list of the most popular toys in the U.S. for 2022:

• Got2Glow Fairy Finder
• Mini Brands
• Squishmallows
• LOL Surprise Dolls
• Bluey
• Disney Encanto
• Cocomelon
• Paw Patrol
• POPDARTS
• Octonauts

Hottest products for Cyber 5 2022:

• Airpod Max and Pro
• Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra
• iPhone 14
• Dyson Airwrap Styler
• Smart speakers (Echo, Google Home)
• Stanley tumblers
• Gift cards
• Instapot
• Air fryer
• OoniPizza Oven

Source: 2022 Holiday Shopping Forecast by Adobe

These forecasts correspond to the data provided by Inmar Intelligence on the goods people want to give and receive as a present during holiday season 2022:

1. Gift cards cards
2. Gaming or entertainment products Apparel or jewelry Personalized products
3. Toys
4. Home decor, furnishings, fixtures Home appliances or electronics Beauty products
5. Sports & outdoors products Cash
6. Tickets or experiences
7. Food
8. Alcohol
9. Health & fitness items
10. Other

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Takeaway

The biggest shopping season opens up a myriad of opportunities for affiliate marketers all around the world. While it certainly feels like the overabundance of discounts and other shopping festivals during the year has watered down the importance of November sales, people will always be willing to save money on genuinely good deals, and of course nobody canceled winter holidays with a strong tradition of giving gifts. 

So…

Start your campaigns as early as possible and use the best tools. For example, pop-ups are perfect for big sales, and if you think they’re annoying – well, sometimes they are to be honest, but not these days, because your users are starting to look for deals, big deals, so don’t hesitate to offer them what they want.   

Make sure you get more tips on how to get your affiliate marketing business to the next level on Black Friday here, choose from 2000+ affiliate programs at Indoleads and let’s rock this Cyber 5 season! 

Click below to get the best and highest paying affiliate programs for this year Black Friday/Cyber Monday!