Affiliate Window - Black Friday v Cyber Monday Infographic

According to the internet commerce trade body IMRG, Britons spent an estimated £810 million online on Friday 27th November – Black Friday – eclipsing its earlier £550 million forecast.

The shift to the US import ‘tradition’ firmly knocked ‘Cyber Monday’, formerly Britain’s favourite online trading day into 2nd place in 2014.  

For the Online Performance Marketing industry this translated into its biggest sales day ever. Affiliate Window, the UK’s largest Affiliate network produced an infographic, comparing these two shopping days and Kevin Edwards, Affiliate Window’s Strategy Director, shares some additional thoughts.

According to IMRG Black Friday is set to transform how affiliate marketers plan their seasonal calendars in 2015. With sales through the Affiliate Window network surging by 140% on Black Friday, the growth dwarfed that of Cyber Monday (40% uplift) and the traditionally high point of pre-Christmas trading in the UK, Manic Monday (10% YoY growth) which this year fell on 8th December.

Mobile played its part with smartphones acting as a key initiating channel earlier in the day, tablets in the evening, underlining how important it is for brands to track across devices in order to understand customer journeys. Interestingly Black Friday peaks were earlier in the day with a noticeable ‘pre-work peak’ between 7 and 9am, whilst Cyber Monday performed strongest when people were at home at night.