Consumers dumping Black Friday for mobile.
With stores offering deep discounts and promotions throughout November, Black Friday itself was a bust when it came to excitement and newness.
The real winner? Mobile. According to Adobe Digital Insights, “this year’s Black Friday broke mobile shopping records with $2.9 billion spent through smartphones alone.”
Justifying the above stat is the trend we noticed of consumers physically going to stores, only to get in line, place their order on mobile, and then dump their stuff and leave. While better than the alternative and still bringing shoppers across the lease line, it’s apparent for 2020 that retailers will need to create an incentive, or pay-off of sorts, to keep shoppers in line and finalize their purchases in-store.
Retailers who caught our eye this past weekend include Patagonia, Anthropologie, and Pandora.
Patagonia bucked the trend and opted out of both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Instead of discounts, Patagonia encouraged shoppers to donate to their Action Works program – an organization fighting the environmental crisis – and promised to match any donations made throughout the month of December.
Anthropologie capitalized on the trend toward mobile, offering uncharacteristic deep Black Friday discounts, but only through their app.
Pandora offered a 35 percent off discount but only in-store. Shoppers had to go the store, make a reservation to shop, and were notified via text when their shopping slot was available.