Ok, so black Friday and cyber Monday came and went but where did they start and what are their impact on todays retail income?
Black Friday is a name that originated in the USA around 1961, in Philadelphia to be exact. It was used to describe the heavy traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular that occurred after the Thanksgiving holiday. Later on around 1975 it spread to the rest of the US and the world and its explanation changed. It was said that retailers operated in the red until that Friday when their accounting books went from loss to profit.
For example; John Lewis recorded a 300% increase in website traffic on Friday.
The retail trade worldwide adopted the day as the first day of the seasonal sales and began opening their doors earlier and earlier. A quarter of all Christmas shoppers use this day to do the bulk of their shopping and are known to be quite aggressive in the hunt for a bargain before the supplies run out.
Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday following black Friday and was coined in 2005 by Shop.org in a press release where they stated that “Cyber Monday quickly becoming one of the biggest online shopping days”.
With the internet now being on almost every mobile device out there this years sales are the busiest ever recorded.
Amazon UK recorded 4.1 million sales on Monday, on top of 4 million sales from black Friday it’s the busiest time in Amazons history.
Tesco recorded 114% increase in website visits compared to a normal Monday. All in all the internet in the UK would have seen £312.500 a minute being spent.
The forecast from Visa Europe is that a massive 450 million pounds was spent on monday alone with online sales so far being 16% more than last year.
When all is said and done and your last parcel has gone off to a happy customer, we here at HigherSites hope you had a good sales period. Long may it continue over the Christmas and into the New year.
Make yourself a worthwhile resolution for next year.
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