Almost 243 million visits to retail websites were recorded on the day of Black Friday, with a further 181 million visits on Cyber Monday, and a huge 777 million site visits across the whole weekend, according to new data.
The research, from Hitwise, shows that in total, this generated a near 1.5 billion website visits throughout the whole of Cyber Week.
Key findings:
• 243 million visits to retail websites were recorded on the day of Black Friday
• 181 million visits were generated on Cyber Monday
• In total, there were 777 million sites visits throughout Cyber Weekend
Online shopping struck post-work between 6pm and 9pm on Black Friday, whilst traffic to specific sites also peaked at different times of the day.
Early bird shoppers drove traffic to John Lewis and Currys PC World to search for deals, whilst traffic from search to eBay and Amazon was higher in the evening, peaking specifically at around 8pm.
These late-night bargain hunters were also shown to drive traffic from social media, with site clicks from social peaking between 12am to 4am. However, Search Engines were once again king, accounting for 41 per cent of all clicks over Cyber Week and dominating as the largest referral channel.
Whether buying for themselves or others, this year’s shoppers found beauty goods (+14 per cent on 2015) and fitness products (+12 per cent on 2015) more appealing. Following this, it was the likes of Amazon and Argos who generated the bulk of website visits, and specifically department stores which drove a massive 41 per cent of visits to Shopping sites on Black Friday itself.
Nigel Wilson, managing director of Hitwise, says: “From email, to social media, to display, this year’s Cyber Week felt a bit crowded with the onslaught of digital advertising and communication. As consumers, this year it seems we all took different strategies to making the most of the deal – some in the early hours on Facebook, others hitting the retail sites hard after work. Retailers who well-understood their consumer behaviour across key channels, and found their sweet spot hours to target advertising, fared much better this year. It’s clear that retailers need to go beyond search alone to drive sufficient and relevant traffic to their website during these key events.”