You’ve in all probability seen the headlines about how Black Friday gross sales have been down YoY for the primary time ever. Which will seem like unhealthy information for manufacturers, however the numbers don’t inform the entire story.

Individuals aren’t spending much less on the vacations this 12 months — they’re simply spreading their buy out over an extended time period. Some shoppers purchased on-line earlier to keep away from potential delays with transport and supply, and those that felt extra snug shopping for in-store than in 2020 have flexibility to buy each time they need to. In truth, in line with forecasts from the Nationwide Retail Federation, 2021 vacation spending is prone to set a brand new document, with a complete enhance of as much as 11.5% over final 12 months.

For D2C manufacturers, the image is far more optimistic. Shopify pulled information on BFCM for his or her retailer house owners, and so they collectively made $6.3 billion USD in gross sales globally between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a 23% enhance from 2020. And for D2C manufacturers that use Yotpo, the numbers additionally trended greater than final 12 months, and in lots of instances, greater than ever.

Right here’s what we noticed throughout our varied merchandise:

Loyalty: 

• The variety of shoppers who redeemed factors by way of Yotpo Loyalty packages on Black Friday was 300% extra in comparison with a median day.
• Black Friday factors redemption was 19% greater than on Cyber Monday.
• The common variety of orders by loyalty members was greater than 220% greater than non-loyalty members.
• Factors redemption for Black Friday was up greater than 44% and greater than 41% for Cyber Monday in comparison with 2020.

SMS: 

• Manufacturers despatched out BFCM messages earlier this 12 months — greater than 4x the messages have been despatched on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday main as much as Black Friday than in 2020, with 220% extra despatched all through November as a complete in comparison with final 12 months.
• There was a 95% enhance in messages despatched over BFCM in comparison with 2020.
• Half of all messages despatched have been personalised, which incorporates campaigns despatched to particular lists and segments.
• 70% of orders positioned have been adopted up by transactional messages, together with order affirmation, transport, and supply updates.

Opinions: 

• Yotpo noticed a rise of fifty% in calls to our Yotpo Opinions Widget in comparison with final 12 months, with a brand new all-time document of 50,000 calls per second!

The takeaway? This information exhibits that manufacturers leaned closely on constructing engagement and rising relationships with clients this 12 months. That technique is way more practical at rising buyer lifetime worth than the normal strategy to BFCM — blanket discounting. By specializing in retention, manufacturers that noticed an inflow of first-time clients throughout peak vacation purchasing occasions are well-positioned to show them into loyal clients in 2022 and past.

Don’t imagine the headlines: 2021 has been an important 12 months for eCommerce, and it’s not even over but. We will’t wait to see what the ultimate numbers are for Yotpo manufacturers and the eCommerce business as a complete for this 12 months’s vacation purchasing season.