Report: Amazon, Walmart, Target Win Black Friday
Retail behemoth Amazon.com took the top spot in terms of total retail sales on Black Friday this year, according to a report from data insight company Numerator. Walmart came in second, followed by Target, Best Buy, and Costco. Numerator tracks purchase data and surveys verified buyers to understand shifts in consumer behavior. Over Cyber Weekend 2023, the company surveyed more than 5,000 verified buyers to find out what they bought, where they shopped, and what influenced their decisions.
Other Black Friday findings from Numerator include the following:
- Black Friday was the most popular shopping day (89 percent of Cyber Weekend shoppers), followed by Cyber Monday (47 percent) and Saturday (45 percent).
- 42 percent of shoppers said they shopped primarily or exclusively in-store, compared to 34 percent who said they shopped primarily or exclusively online.
- Shoppers spread their purchases around, with 27 percent of shoppers making purchases at more than five different stores/websites. Only 8 percent of shoppers purchased at one store.
- To prepare for Cyber Weekend shopping, consumers searched retailer websites (51 percent), browsed digital ads (43 percent), made a list of products to purchase (33 percent ), used search engines to find deals and/or products (31 percent ), and browsed social media (24 percent).
- While 45 percent of shoppers planned their Cyber Weekend shopping more than a week in advance, 26 percent were spontaneous and decided to shop the day before or day of the event.
Total Retail's Take: It's really no surprise that Amazon was the Black Friday winner in terms of total retail sales this year. After all, online spending shot up by nearly 8 percent year-over-year to $38 billion during the five-day period from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Analytics. And let's face it, when people are thinking about shopping online, in many cases they're thinking about Amazon.
Now retailers are shifting their focus to how the holiday season will ultimately shake out for them this year. For example, while the numbers look good so far, some retail experts say that unique factors such as deep discounts and cooler temperatures in many parts of the U.S. on Black Friday were the real reason for consumers’ appetite to spend, but the good news may not continue throughout the critical retail season.
