With shoppers going crazy looking for the best discounts that they can snag, we take a look at how the landscape for Black Friday has shifted to a digital focus.
Black Friday is one of the biggest days of the year in the shopping calendar. What started as an exclusive event in the United States to commemorate the day after Thanksgiving is now a global occurrence. It is, without a doubt, the best time of the year for consumers to make the most of unmissable discounts. While special sales often occur throughout the year, Black Friday is when businesses enact their most significant price hikes. Companies and consumers typically start planning for Black Friday many weeks in advance. With the sale just a month before Christmas, it’s also the perfect opportunity for consumers to purchase gifts and holiday essentials for a discounted price.
Any business in the retail sector should jump on board the Black Friday train to avoid missing out on growing their revenue. Despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, last year’s Black Friday saw a record $9 billion spent. While the occasion is traditionally known for millions of consumers queuing outside stores in the early hours, recent years have witnessed a shift to digital formats. Due to restrictions and health fears, more people turned to online shopping in 2020. Consumers who tend to visit stores in person now recognise the benefits of ordering products from the comfort of their homes.
So how do people discover Black Friday sales that might interest them? Many consumers tend to use search engines such as Google or visit a brand’s website that they are familiar with. They may also visit popular discount communities like hotukdeals and Money Saving Expert. Advertising campaigns on TV and social media are also highly effective for attracting the attention of prospective customers.
For the scope of this article, we will focus on how consumers find Black Friday deals using the Google search engine. We will look at several high-profile keywords to discover what queries consumers search for and how their popularity compares to previous years.
Online Search Trends for Black Friday
‘black friday’ – This keyword is the most popular term and the most straightforward query for a consumer to type out. It receives around 165,000 average searches per month in the UK alone. As you can imagine, the number of searches began to increase in October, with approximately 5m global searches. In 2020, November saw 20.4m searches compared to 45.5m the previous year. The decrease can perhaps be associated with more people directly visiting trusted websites or due to the pandemic. However, as noted above, 2020 saw the biggest record in terms of revenue generated.
‘black friday 2021’ – Similar to above, this keyword is one of the most popular and simplest queries. This phrase perhaps indicates the user’s intent to find up-to-date offers for the current year. The keyword has an average monthly search volume of 74,000 in the UK, while the 2020 variant had 301,100. November data is not yet available, but there were 9.1m global searches in October compared to 13.6m last year.
‘black friday uk’ – While Google does an excellent job displaying results that are relevant to a user’s current location, consumers often tend to include their country or city in the search query to find localised deals. For a holiday previously regarded as US-only, this UK-focused keyword receives a promising 18,100 average monthly searches. In November 2020, the keyword received around 201,000 searches.
‘black friday deals’ – Another popular query and receives 165,000 average monthly searches in the UK. November 2020 saw a whopping 11.1m searches for this query. Anyone using this query is looking to find deals associated with the event and nothing else. With 7.9m searches on mobile devices, there is enough evidence showing why it’s essential for businesses to have a website focused on mobile usability.
‘black friday tv deals’ – Sometimes, people know exactly what they want! For all us entertainment lovers, there’s nothing more rewarding than upgrading your television. Whether seeking a bigger size or moving to 4K, getting a new TV is the ultimate treat. TVs are not cheap, which is why many consumers usually wait until Black Friday to grab an excellent deal. This keyword receives an average monthly search volume of 135,000 in the UK, with 1.5m worldwide searches in November 2020.
‘amazon black friday deals’ – Amazon is the biggest e-commerce platform across the whole worldwide web. Known for pushing out captivating deals throughout the year, Amazon is one of the first places consumers turn to on Black Friday, even if searching with interest rather than intent. As products from huge third-party brands are sold on the platform, a massive selection of products is available. This keyword has an average UK search volume of 9,900 and received 823,000 searches in November 2020.
‘apple watch black friday’ – It is often the case that someone knows the exact product they are waiting to drop in price. Electronics, such as the Apple Watch, are among the most popular product categories that consumers are interested in. At 5,4000 average monthly searches in the UK, this keyword is less popular than those we have touched on above. However, it is extremely specific. In November 2020, there were 550,000 global searches for this query.
‘hotukdeals black friday’ – The last keyword that we will look at relates to the hotukdeals website. This website is one of the most popular money-saving platforms in the UK, allowing users to share special offers with one another. As a website dedicated to deals, it is a community that thrives during Black Friday weekend. The keyword receives around 390 monthly searches in the UK and saw 3,600 searches during November 2020.
What About Cyber Monday?
To round off this search trends article, we will briefly look at Cyber Monday and its correlation with organic search. While Black Friday can be traced back to the 1950s, Cyber Monday is a much newer concept. The first recognised use of Cyber Monday was in 2005, when consumers were encouraged to shop online. Cyber Monday is highly similar to Black Friday, except that offers are usually exclusive to e-commerce shopping. The keyword ‘cyber monday’ has an average monthly search volume of 18,1000 in the UK with 6.1m global searches in November 202, showing that it still has a lot of catching up to do with Black Friday. Other notable keywords include ‘cyber monday amazon’ (720 UK monthly searches), ‘cyber monday deals’ (14,800 UK monthly searches), and ‘cyber monday uk’ (880 UK monthly searches).
While Cyber Monday isn’t entirely on par with Black Friday yet, it’s still an essential part of the occasion. Black Friday is seen as the busiest day and nowadays incorporates discounts for both online and offline shopping. In truth, you can consider Cyber Monday as starting on the Friday, with the term mainly used as a marketing buzzword. As soon as online Black Friday offers end on Sunday, they often transport to the Cyber Monday category as part of a last-chance campaign.
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