Black Friday abandonment rates are a needless oversight – Morten Tonnesen, CEO, Ve Global
While UK internet retail traffic will surge on Black Friday, so will abandonment rates. Low conversion ratios means many retailers will simply fail to make money warns Morten Tonnesen, CEO of Ve Global.
Black Friday abandonment rates are a needless oversight – Morten Tonnesen, CEO, Ve Global
While UK internet retail traffic will surge on Black Friday, so will abandonment rates. Low conversion ratios means many retailers will simply fail to make money warns Morten Tonnesen, CEO of Ve Global.
“So much work goes into attracting customers to your site for Black Friday be it adtech, search and social media. But if you neglect on-site abandonment then that is a needless oversight,” says Tonnesen.
Internet traffic never shows up on the balance sheet, he adds.
More shoppers, less spending
Abandonment rates are an increasing historic issue with Black Friday. Despite a surge in online traffic of +70% compared to an average Friday last year, eight out of 10 customers who placed something in their basket abandoned the transaction at the final ‘Buy Now’ hurdle.
This year on the last Friday (17th Nov) before Black Friday, UK abandonment rates stood at 82.5%. “This could be consumers doing research in advance of Black Friday but it emphasizes the scale of the opportunity for retailers to close on this clear interest to buy,” says Tonnesen
Source: Ve Global
November abandonment rates rise
Abandonment rates have been on the climb through November 2017. Ve Global’s proprietary data points to an abandonment rate of 80.88% on Friday 3 November – yet this surged to 84.97% by Saturday 18 November.
Rates were holding at an 83% average across that weekend despite Amazon and many other online retailers kicking off their Black Friday earlier.
Source: Ve Global
In brief – November 2017 abandonment rates
- Friday 3 Nov – 80.88%
- Friday 10 Nov – 80.69%
- Friday 17 Nov – 82.54%
In brief – November 2017 conversion rates
- Friday 3 Nov – 19.12%
- Friday 10 Nov – 19.31%
- Friday 17 Nov – 17.46%
Low conversion ratio – multiple reasons responsible
Many consumers are feeling cash-poor. Ve’s Commercial Director Sam Behar says nothing speaks louder than the money in our current accounts and pockets we have now.
“Interest rate rises, job insecurity, a fall in real living wages, uncertainty in the housing market and whatever Brexit means for us all amount to us,” he says, “keeping a lock on our spending.”
Stronger mobile and tablet sales
Greater-than-ever mobile device traffic however will support online clothes sales which is where the real UK Black Friday bargains may likely lie, think Ve analysts.
However less-than-dazzling price cuts on electrical goods coulddisappoint thanks to the rising cost of imported goods as a result of the June 2016 referendum. Ve advises caution on high-price item sales generally.
Consumers will need to observe the small print on online delivery costs to avoid being stung as retailers shore up margins and tame currency gusts.
Source: Ve Global 2016
European Black Friday catch-up is clear
While last year’s UK Black Friday sales were up +109% compared to the previous Friday, Ve Global data reveals this pales in comparison to Ireland (+389%) and other parts of Europe such as the Nordics (+251%) and Spain (+158%).
Given Black Friday’s strong US roots, the adoption of Black Friday in Russia (up +90% in 2016) is accentuating the borderless nature of e-shopping say Ve experts.
“Naturally our European neighbours,” says Ve’s Commercial Director Sam Behar, “are falling in line and spotting the opportunity for consolidated consumer spending. Black Friday is a US import and it goes off with the relevant confetti canon that mass discounting requires.”
Learn from Black Friday 2016 and look ahead
- European Black Friday catch-up was clear in 2016 – Ireland, Scandinavia, Spain and Russia saw strong traffic gains; robust interest also from Latin America
- Expect aggressive mass discounting from clothes retailers as temperatures sink in the second half of November and vendors attempt to put grim October sales behind them
- Bricks-and-mortar stores continue to feel the pain of rising staff wage pressure and rents as sales transfer from department stores to virtual browsing in living room and bedrooms
- UK Black Friday may break records but online is where the action is
- Robust Christmas sales looks likely despite the economic caution – but buying on credit may start to tail off
Cyber Weekend: Receive periodic updates throughout
Is Black Friday a bigger online shopping event than Cyber Monday? Will mobile sales continue to climb? Is iOS pipping Android to the punch? Ve Global’s daily wrap ups will look to answer exactly that.
Sign up for Ve’s periodic updates for the Cyber Weekend by visiting ve.com/Black-Friday-2017
About Ve’s data method
Ve’s Data Lake trackstransactions for 10,000 businesses each day. The sample is a result of almost 13m online shopping sessions and almost 2.5m individual sales.
