Black Friday UK and US ecommerce and search performance: November 2016
Black Friday UK Ecommerce and Search Stats: How much are Brits buying into this retail-fuelled seasonal event?
What is Black Friday?
A landmark retail event focussed on discounts and deals.
When is Black Friday?
27th November 2015.
Black Friday Ecommerce and Search Stats:
- Black Friday related searches were up an astonishing 1,117% between 2013 and 2014
- “Deal + Product” overtook “Cheap + Product” terms between Nov 2013 – Nov 2014
- The term Black Friday was searched 2,240,000 times in Nov 2014
- In 2014 Amazon UK sold 5.5M items on Black Friday: a new record.
- In 2014, people spent approximately £810M online
How big is Black Friday compared to other big holiday searches?
Monthly searches of major annual events in Google UK
HOW BIG IS BLACK FRIDAY?
- In 2014 Black Friday related queries were searched more than Christmas related queries.
- Black Friday searches rose from approx. 1.5M searches in 2013, to 5.5M searches in 2014
Retail search behaviour is changing because of Black Friday
November has overtaken December as the primary month for “deals” in the UK, thus mimicking the US.
“Deal” related searches became more popular in 2014 in the UK
BLACK FRIDAY SEARCH BEHAVIOUR STATS
“Product + Deals” search terms have seen a 102.2% rise, as opposed to “Cheap + Product” which have dropped by 3%.
Black Friday specific searches became more popular in 2014
BLACK FRIDAY YOY SEARCH GROWTH STATS
- “Black Friday + Product” searches saw a huge 1117% rise between Nov 2013 – Nov 2014
- “Black Friday+ Product + Deals” rose nearly just as much, by 1062% between Nov 2013 – Nov 2014
Who’s owning Black Friday in Google?
Amazon UK is performing best for 100s of Black Friday related search terms.
WHICH ECOMMERCE SITE PERFORMS BEST ON BLACK FRIDAY?
Amazon appears in 83% of the most popular Black Friday searches
US brands take over Black Friday
There are a profusion of US sites in Google UK for the search term Black Friday.
WHY AREN’T I PERFORMING WELL FOR BLACK FRIDAY?
- US brands are dominating Google UK.
- UK retailers are not optimising as well as US sites for Black Friday terms.
US sites dominate UK SERPs for Black Friday
WHY ISN’T MY SITE APPEARING IN GOOGLE FOR BLACK FRIDAY?
Google is failing to filter US sites out of UK SERPs. In fact, 11 out of the top 13 sites in Google UK, for the search term “Black Friday”, are US based.
US site Target.com invades Google UK
US SITES TAKING OVER ON BLACK FRIDAY
Many US sites without a UK ecommerce channel perform well in the UK SERPs.
Curry’s is prepared for Black Friday
Curry’s is enjoying page 1 positions throughout the year
WHICH UK SITE IS BEST PREPARED FOR BLACK FRIDAY?
Curry’s has been prepared for Black Friday all year, with a count-down landing page
Is it worth taking part in Black Friday?
Yes – Black Friday is a big retail opportunity which has yet to be explored by many.
As we’ve seen, “deal” related searches now peak in November rather than December – a major change in search behaviour due to the inception of Black Friday.
These “deal” terms now carry more weight than generic “cheap” related search terms.
Despite consumers actively searching for Black Friday related deals, Black Friday isn’t yet being taken advantage of by online UK retailers.
Plus Google peculiarly (and incorrectly) gives greater weight to US sites, even if they do not market to the UK audience. This could in part be due to a shortage of well-optimised UK sites.
Want to make the most of Black Friday?
Create a year-round landing page with the view to keep the URL long term. This will therefore garner links and the age of the page will aid long-term visibility in Google.
Theme the page around “Black Friday” and “Deals”. Keep the page “live” throughout the year by maintaining internal links to the page, creating appropriate copy based on the specific year, and directing your customers on when the deals go live.
If you don’t have a Black Friday page this year, create one now for next year.
Then of course track your performance, and competitors with the use of Pi Datametrics enterprise SEO platform.
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