Black Friday shoppers in Great Britain are young, urban-centric and relatively flush with cash, according to new data.
According to the findings – drawing upon data from both Kantar Media’s Digital Advertising Intelligence offer and TGI consumer data – demographically, Black Friday shoppers are 55% more likely than the average British consumer to be aged 15-24 and 42% less likely to be aged 55-64. These shoppers gravitate towards urban centres; they’re 61% more likely to live in London and 24% more likely to live in the West Midlands. And Black Friday shoppers are 35% more likely to earn at least £75,000.
One of the key driving forces behind Black Friday is media consumption and advertising, with Black Friday shoppers more than twice as likely to say celebrities influence their buying decisions and to prefer buying products from companies which engage in TV sponsorship. They’re also 84% more likely to say they cannot resist buying magazines, and 63% more likely to agree that advertising helps them choose what to buy.
Fashion, apparel and accessories are a key focus for Black Friday audiences, with shoppers around the period 52% more likely to agree that designer labels improve a person’s image, and 54% more likely to keep up with the latest fashions. They’re also significantly more likely to regularly purchase jewellery (59%), children’s toys and games (56%) and mobile phones and accessories (49%) online.
A top line run through of some of the key stats:
• Black Friday shoppers are on average young, urban-centric, and relatively well off
• Media consumption and advertising are one of the key deciding factors as to whether consumers purchase around Black Friday or not
• Fashion and apparel is a key focus of UK Black Friday shopping
• Amongst key brands like M&S, ASOS and House of Fraser, spending on paid search nearly doubled in the months leading up to Black Friday
The focus on fashion is equally reflected in ad spend amongst major brands around the occasion. In the two months (October and November) preceding Black Friday last year, House of Fraser, ASOS, and Marks & Spencer made up 40% of paid search advertising in the fashion and apparel sector, with each doubling their spend compared to the preceding two month period (August and September), from £308k to £700k; £245k to £451k and £184k to £420k respectively.
Andy Brown, CEO Kantar Media, commented: “Black Friday is undoubtedly one of the busiest times of the year for the retail sector, meaning it’s even more important for brands to target their spend with a laser-focus – and ensure they’re tailoring content to cut through the noise. While it makes sense to weight advertising spend around seasonal events, it’s important to make smart use of these budgets too.
Insight into consumer trends and behaviours enables brands to easily identify target audiences, understand where and when they are shopping and engage them with relevant content accordingly. Optimising ad spend in a holistic way across platforms with the help of insights like our consumer and digital advertising data will help brands both make their budgets work harder and gain an edge over competitors.”
Methodology
TGI consumer data from Kantar Media’s Great Britain TGI study Q3 2018, based on a representative sample of over 24,000 adults aged 15+ in Great Britain.
Paid search data from Kantar Media’s Digital Advertising Intelligence expertise
Our search intelligence data is derived from observations on the marketplace – more than 2.5 billion search engine results pages measured each month. Data is collected at keyword level every day, on a specific set of keywords. It is important to note that data should be treated as directional and that spend data is estimated based on the insights and keywords we have available.