Holidays and key shopping events—like Argentina’s Hot Sale, Mexico’s Buen Fin, or Black Friday—are important times to invest in retail media since brands can reach consumers they otherwise would have missed.

CEO Dan Schulman said volume skyrocketed 400%, which may foreshadow performance for the rest of the season.

“Over 30% more retailers began offering Black Friday-related deals the week before Thanksgiving,” RetailMeNot’s Skupin said. “The majority of this growth was driven by smaller retailers aiming to jumpstart sales and gain a competitive advantage ahead of Black Friday week. ...

Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and other key shopping day dynamics. Product categories and retailer performance expectations. Digital marketing strategies for promotions, mobile apps, social ads, and more. Plus! Rory Mitchell, executive managing director, Americas, at Criteo, joins the conversation. Presenters:.

In August, 47% of UK holiday shoppers ages 16 and older said they would likely do most or all of their Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping in-store, according to research by Censuswide for digital performance marketing agency Tug. A further 25% said they’d shop equally online and in-store. Retailers will need to up their in-store game.

Holiday shopping will start early this year, but don’t overlook the importance of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Thanksgiving will regain its ecommerce momentum as brick-and-mortar retailers close on the holiday. Black Friday will see a revival at brick and mortar as families once again take to the malls.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday underperformed as shoppers moved up their holiday spending to avoid out-of-stock products and shipping delays. Black Friday foot traffic was down by double digits versus 2019, while both days posted only single-digit ecommerce growth.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday also underperformed expectations. We had predicted that Thanksgiving Day would become the ultimate “couch commerce” day, with most big-box retailers’ stores closed that year, driving early Black Friday shopping to smartphones and other ecommerce channels.

Attentive said that across its customer base, millions of subscribers opted in for SMS shopping messages each day between Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020.

Category and Retailer Performance. Even as the 2020 holiday season shapes up to be a boon for ecommerce, the gains will not be evenly distributed. Category performance will depend on both consumer demand and channel-shifting dynamics, as will individual retailer performance within those categories.

She added that Vox Media also uses affiliate links on Twitter during tentpole sales events, like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, taking users directly to retailer sites.

According to research by performance marketing company Fluent, 18% of the US digital shoppers who were members of its opt-in panel used Instagram as a digital purchasing channel on Black Friday in 2019.

The 2020 US holiday season posted better-than-expected retail sales growth, as huge ecommerce gains added to a surprisingly positive performance for brick-and-mortar retail. The early outlook for the 2021 holiday season is solid despite major economic uncertainty ahead.

Even as big-box retailers like Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, JCPenney and Pier 1 all reported catastrophic H1 performances, announced various store closures or declared bankruptcy, other retailers with more nimble tactics successfully pivoted to digital-centric omnichannel approaches that are now paying major dividends.

In terms of the “when,” we’ve already mentioned the impact of a late Black Friday on the 2019 holiday shopping season. The UK tends to follow a monthly payment cycle, with the last working day of the month being the day when pay lands in bank accounts across the country. In 2019, Black Friday coincided with that day—November 29.