81% of the people who shopped during Cyber 5 did so on Black Friday and slightly more than half did so on Cyber Monday, according to survey data from Chicago-based market research firm Numerator. And on which of the Cyber 5 days a shopper made a purchase varied based on where they live in the U.S. and the retailer they chose to buy from.
Shoppers at Amazon.com Inc., No. 1 in the 2021 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000, for example, were more likely than customers of other merchants to shop on Thanksgiving Day, according to a Numerator survey of 10,653 verified Cyber 5 buyers between Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday 2021. Of all Cyber 5 shoppers surveyed, 30% said they made a purchase on Thanksgiving. Among those who made an Amazon purchase, 40% said they made a purchase on Thanksgiving (+10 percentage points vs. all shoppers).
On Black Friday, things were different. Shoppers were most likely to buy from Kohl’s Corp. (No. 18), Macy’s Inc. (No. 13), and Best Buy Co. Inc. (No. 5) by margins of +5, +5, and +7 percentage points respectively than were shoppers as a whole on Black Friday.
Survey respondents in the Midwest and Northeast said they shopped more on Black Friday (+2 and +3 points respectively compared with the total of survey respondents), while shoppers in the West favored Cyber Monday (+3 points).
Similarly, a shopper’s decision to shop online or in-store during Cyber 5 was influenced by what region of the country they live in.
Nearly four of 10 (37%) of Cyber 5 shoppers did all or most of their shopping in brick-and-mortar locations this year. That’s up from 33% in the comparable period of 2020, but down from the 45% during the comparable period in 2019, before the pandemic. Online shopping was most popular with shoppers in the Northeast (+3 points versus the entire survey group).
One of four shoppers purchased from more than five retailers, according to Numerator.
Among other findings from the Numerator survey:
- 22% of shoppers said they spent more on Cyber Weekend 2021 than last year, and one-third (33%) of them attributed their higher spending to rising prices.
- Supply chain woes and empty shelves influenced shoppers. Nearly four of every 10 (38%) shoppers said they couldn’t find everything on their list, up from 33% last year. The top reasons cited were out-of-stocks (46%) and inability to find items in the store (36%). Other reasons given for incomplete shopping were crowded stores (11%) and website malfunctions (6%).
- Shoppers at Target Corp. (No. 6) and Amazon were the most likely to get everything on their lists (+3, +2 points), while Lowe’s Cos. Inc. (No. 13), The Home Depot Inc. (No. 4) and Sam’s Club (owned by No. 2 Walmart Inc.) shoppers were less likely to find everything (-2, -2, -3 points respectively).
Earlier this month, Adobe Analytics reported that its data showed U.S. consumers spent $33.90 billion online during the five-day stretch from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, which was just shy of the record $34.36 billion for the same period in 2020. The small 1.4% drop was in part driven by earlier holiday buying with shoppers acutely aware that there might not be enough goods to go around.
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