Going Beyond the Numbers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Another Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping weekend is in the books. The time that retailers, both online and offline, wait for all year has passed, and the holiday shopping season is now "officially" underway. But as the media rushes to measure the four-day period's numbers, retailers know there's much more to discover beyond the sales figures.

With that in mind, SAP once again listened for the voice of the consumer and, using its Social Media application by NetBase, analyzed the social sentiment around two of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Blurred Lines
One thing really stood out to us in our findings: The social conversation surrounding Black Friday and Cyber Monday has exploded, as the volume of mentions about Black Friday rose 495 percent from 2012, while Cyber Monday mentions increased 292 percent.

This increase could be attributed to a number of things, including the finding that more retailers are joining in social conversations with consumers. Retailers now understand the growing value of social media as a channel to engage and are beginning to interact with consumers not just leading up to events, but throughout the entire buying process. This works in everyone's favor, as the insight gained from these interactions helps to reshape and drive a more personalized shopping experience.

Another contributing factor: Deals and savings associated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday started early this year. Many stores kicked off their sales on Thanksgiving Day, and though consumers may have expressed negative sentiment about this action, that didn't stop them from taking advantage of the early deals. The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that in-store traffic on Thanksgiving increased 27 percent compared to 2012.

While consumers were struggling with the idea of Thanksgiving Day shopping sprees, their outlook on Black Friday turned more upbeat this year, possibly due to the extra shopping hours Thanksgiving Day provided. Our social listening showed that while low prices remain the big draw for shoppers on Cyber Monday, they're beginning to feel better about time and convenience when it comes to their Black Friday shopping experiences.

The huge jump in social media mentions may also be a result of a shifting consumer base. We're currently in the middle of the "changing of the guard," both technologically and generationally. We all know that millennials are set to overtake baby boomers as the primary spenders in the retail world. Accenture research helps solidify this takeover and estimates that millennials will account for approximately $1.4 trillion in spending by 2020, or about 30 percent of total retail sales. This tech-savvy, social-media-engaging force is growing increasingly mobile, and retailers are going to have to keep up with them.

But it's not just millennials who are embracing mobile. comScore expects mobile commerce to reach $7.1 billion this holiday shopping season, while total spending across digital channels is expected to cap at $55.2 billion. Mobile spending is here to stay, and retailers need to be considering how to create a more involved, engaging mobile experience for next year's shopping season.

While "mobile" consumers and "in-store" consumers are now becoming one in the same, the lines between Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also continuing to blur, with sales now increasingly being offered jointly both online and in-store. Shoppers participating in Black Friday deals this year often did so online. According to comScore, online sales on Black Friday topped $1 billion for the first time.

We've entered a new era of how we look at and interact with today's consumer.

Looking Forward to 2014
As the holiday shopping season begins earlier each year, the once distinct Black Friday/ Cyber Monday deal-days are now blending into one giant sales event, with consumer expectations higher than ever before. Social listening is a real-time tool retailers can use in order to meet, and exceed, these growing expectations and deliver personalized shopping experiences both online and in-store. The more you know about the mood of the shopper the more you can gain in tuning assortments, marketing and selling techniques.

Tom Redd is the vice president of strategic communications at SAP Global Retail Business Unit.