Black Friday to boost November online spend

Black Friday is expected to contribute towards 20 billion pounds spent online in November, according to e-commerce consultancy Salmon.

The month of November is also expected to be the first 10 million pound mobile month, based on Salmon’s own data from last year and IMRG showing 51 percent of online orders were made through mobile on Black Friday.

However, Salmon’s own data has also shown that cart abandonment between November 1 – 14 has increased by 4 percent, showing an increasing trend in consumers adding to their baskets but waiting instead for the Black Friday sales to purchase. This has led to a drop in conversion rates since November 1 signalling that a higher percent of sessions are not placing orders.

James Webster, head of managed services at Salmon, said: “Retailers should by now have put in place the proper planning, due diligence and system testing on their websites to cope with the Black Friday rush.

“The bargains are no longer confined to just one day though, or even one week necessarily. As companies such as Amazon stretch their deals further back to a fortnight, retailers should be preparing early to create an ongoing experience and grow that invaluable customer base and loyalty, pipping their competitors to the post.”

The e-commerce consultancy are also predicting that Black Friday could soon become a month-long phenomenon that will overtake December as the biggest shopping month of the year, as retailers compete for a slice of the new ‘peak’ trading season.