Cyber Week 2023 will go down in the books.
According to Adobe Analytics data, 2023 holiday spending hit a record high, reporting $38 billion across Cyber Week – the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday – with $12.4 billion spent on Cyber Monday alone.
Cyber Week Performance
Cyber Five sales were projected to be right around 4%, however, as reported by Businesswire, YoY sales increased 8% across the five days encompassing Cyber Week. Attributing deep discounts for the strong performance, shoppers took more action than expected thanks to their increased use of discounts, showing shoppers used discounts on their purchases 38% more than in 2022.
If those numbers weren’t impressive enough, Blue Wheel clients saw on average 16% growth year-over-year during 2023 Cyber Five, doubling industry reports by performing 100% better during this time period comparatively.
Blue Wheel’s CEO, Eitan Reshef, commented on these results:
“When we look at total ecommerce sales for the past few years, the industry has certainly experienced a slow-down in 2023; with growth settling in at about 7-8% over 2022. For reference, the ecommerce industry saw 9% growth over 2021, 27% growth over 2020, and 35% growth over 2019. The pandemic era was undoubtedly a catalyst. So, looking at this year and considering inflation, the industry growth rate doesn’t necessarily mean brands feel the impact of the growth on their bottom line. That said, we’re proud of the fact that we doubled the industry growth rate for our clients at Blue Wheel, which to us, validates the work we do in real dollars and cents terms.”
Cyber Five Breakdown by Day
To get a full picture of Cyber Five, we broke out our sales percentages by day. In this recap, we saw a slight decrease in Thanksgiving overall revenue, likely due to brands starting deals sooner, and the most significant sales of Cyber Five on Black Friday, accounting for 31% of Cyber Week’s overall revenue.
However, 34% of total revenue came from Cyber Weekend – Saturday and Sunday – so don’t count it out!
Additionally, Cyber Monday revenue increased over last year, accounting for 26% of our overall Cyber Five revenue.
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Cyber Five Trends
There were several trends that came to the forefront during Cyber Week this year.
Peak Shopping Hours Late in the Day
The majority of Cyber Monday revenue happens during the back half of the day, with peak shopping hours being between 10pm to 11pm ET. It’s important to be patient if Cyber Monday starts out slow, since the majority of purchases are going to happen later in the day – don’t forget to account for the West Coast.
Mobile Shopping
Mobile shopping showed to overtake desktop shopping throughout Cyber Week, with 59% of online sales coming from Smartphones. With increased use of mobile phones, user experience on mobile is becoming increasingly important to converting customers.
Record Discounts
Given the state of the economy and concerns around inflation costs, consumers took advantage of the discounts offered during Cyber Week. The average discount over the five days of Cyber was 27.4%, increasing from 24% reported from last year.
Cyber is More Than Just Five Days
Brands and retailers started launching discounts earlier this year and will continue advertising deals past Cyber Monday. Consumers may not see as large of discounts, but deals will continue to linger.
Paid Search Wins
Adobe reported that paid search was the largest driver of sales across retailers during Cyber Week, accounting for 27% of online sales, followed by 21% coming from direct, 17% from organic search, 15% from email, and 12% from affiliates/partners.
Winning Strategies in 2024
As we bid farewell to Cyber Week 2023, and with the ecommerce landscape continuing to evolve, there’s no better time to improve your 2024 strategies than now.
If your brand is struggling to win during the tentpole shopping events, it might be time to work with an omni-channel agency like Blue Wheel. Our team of experts work to make sure your strategies are holistically lifting sales and helping you reach your 2024 goals.
Looking to improve your 2024 strategy? Blue Wheel’s team can help. Reach out today!
Lauren Palmisano is the Marketing Manager at Blue Wheel, where she manages all aspects of the company’s content marketing strategy. From overseeing the content calendar to managing blog and case study creation, website maintenance, and running Blue Wheel’s LinkedIn page, Lauren plays a pivotal role in driving the brand’s digital presence. With a career that started in eCommerce event management before transitioning into eCommerce marketing, Lauren brings a well-rounded approach to delivering impactful content and experiences that resonates with audiences.
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