Black Friday weekend was a win-win across continents for Amazon – but shoppers left it late.
Amazon’s marketplace sales broke records on Black Friday in the UK, while Amazon devices like the Kindle and the Fire tablet soared to record sales in the US.
Black Friday weekend did as much as 100% more hourly business than a normal weekend for Amazon sellers.
But what did our data tell us about US and UK online shoppers? We take a closer look.
Amazon UK
Usually the least popular day of a normal week for shopping in the UK, the shopping cycle was well and truly broken on Black Friday.
Black Friday saw the most sustained sales period of the weekend on Amazon.com – starting from 10am and peaking at 8pm-9pm.
A high volume of transactions was made during office hours. Work duties clearly weren’t getting in the way for customers who wanted to grab the best Black Friday deals.
The Friday peak of 8pm-9pm suggests customers turned their attentions back to deals after work and dinner – hoping to catch some late bargains.
Saturday was quiet in comparison, but still achieved 50% more sales than a normal Saturday afternoon.
Shopping activity heated back up on Sunday and, surprisingly, reached similar heights as Black Friday. For some it may be a day of rest, but many customers clearly spent their Sunday hunting online for – and buying – discounted products.
Cyber Monday sales were similar to Sunday’s performance – until an online shopping frenzy set in at 8pm. For the following two hours customers went into impulsive buying overdrive, creating the biggest sales period of the weekend from 8pm-10pm.
Key points for Amazon UK sellers
- Shop ‘til you sleep – 8pm-10pm is the sweet spot for Amazon UK sales across the weekend.
- Sunday is a dark horse in the UK with comparable sales activity to Black Friday – be sure your sales strategy takes advantage.
- Cyber Monday hits the highest peak, but sellers enjoyed a more sustained shopping period on Black Friday.
Amazon US
In the US, Black Friday is tradition. Falling on Thanksgiving weekend, millions of US shoppers have the day off so shopping starts early.
The sales are ultra-competitive and there are some serious bargains to be bought both online and offline.
High periods of shopping are sustained over longer periods in our US chart because of the multiple timezones in the US. Our timeline is based on the Eastern Time Zone (New York).
Transactions start to pick up from 8am and continue to climb throughout the morning. By 12pm, sales for the day peak – the whole country is awake and shopping.
There’s a drop-off around 5pm-8pm, when customers are likely to be driving, having dinner or shopping in physical stores after work. Sales pick back up at 9pm and remain high until 10pm and drop off considerably after 11pm.
Like in the UK, Amazon sales in the US dropped off considerably on Saturday, before picking up again on Sunday.
Cyber Monday was the runaway winner of the weekend in the US, surpassing Black Friday by 25% during peak periods. This is likely due to US shoppers having Friday off and spending more time shopping on the high street than their working UK counterparts.
Key points for Amazon US sellers
- Tune in early – sales peaked before 12pm on Black Friday.
- Keep going until the finish line – the weekend’s peak sales period was 9pm-11pm on Cyber Monday.
- Cyber Monday is king for online sales, beating Black Friday by over 25% during peak periods.
- Saturday and Sunday see as much as 50% increases in activity – don’t ignore these in-between days for winning extra business.
Did you see any particular trends over the weekend? Let us know in the comments below.
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