Black Friday online retail sales globally went up 14% this year compared to 2019, with the Home & Garden sector enjoying a 52% sales uplift as people continue to want to spend more on their homes in the pandemic-affected era according to new research. The Food & Beverages and Health & Beauty verticals also performed well, seeing sales increase by 45% and 22% respectively, however Fashion & Accessories saw a decline of 4% the data suggests.
Globally there was a 50% v 50% split of orders coming from desktops and mobile phones, with stay-at-home shoppers spending 20% more time on retail sites they visited and viewing 24% more pages. Interestingly, retailers in the data sample were displaying 30% more product recommendations this year to help holiday shoppers find products and offers most relevant to them.
The data from Nosto, the Commerce Experience Platform, is based on nearly 84 million visits across 1,228 stores in North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand
Overall, across all verticals analyzed in the study, the numbers indicate that traffic to online retailers went up 21%, with sales up 14% and average order value (AOV) down -2% on the back of retailers’ seasonal offers and discounts.
Black Friday E-commerce Performance in 4 Key Verticals, 2020 v 2019
| Sales | Traffic | AOV | Conversion Rate | |
| Home & Garden | 52% | 55% | -5% | 4% |
| Health & Beauty | 22% | 11% | 0 | 2% |
| Fashion & Accessories | -4% | 7% | -3% | -5% |
| Food & Beverages | 45% | 31% | -4% | -3% |
“It’s clear that the restrictions on going out during the pandemic have influenced holiday shopping demand with the Home & Garden and Food & Beverages sectors enjoying the most success this year as people focus on shopping to make the most out of their time shut away inside their homes,” said Jake Chatt, Nosto’s Head of Brand Marketing. “Health & Beauty has also performed well with earlier research indicating that 44% of consumers have purchased more beauty and skincare products online this year than in physical stores.”
“Fashion & Accessories are showing the lowest seasonal shopping performance across all verticals – possibly because consumers have already spent most of the year purchasing home-friendly fashion, or that restrictions on social gatherings mean they are not bargain-hunting for clothes for seasonal parties. Alternatively, it may simply be that people have set their sights on other more essential products.”
Black Friday 2020 E-commerce Performance by Device
| Sales | Traffic | Orders | Conversion Rate | |
| Desktop | 53% | 35% | 50% | 5% |
| Mobile | 47% | 64% | 50% | 2% |
Despite people going out less because of restrictions and concerns over the virus, retailers saw 64% of traffic coming from mobiles phones (35% from desktops) and an equal 50% v 50% split for orders coming from each. However, shoppers on desktops generated 53% of sales compared with 47% from phones, suggesting that bigger orders are likely to come on desktops. Shoppers are still less likely to make a purchase on their phones, with conversion rates averaging 5% on desktops and 2% on phones.
