Is your Media Mix correct? Find out how much revenue you're leaving on the table at your current spend with our free audit.
Is your spend allocation correct? Find out how much revenue you’re leaving on the table with our free audit.

Black Friday Showing Shifts in Consumer Behavior

November 25, 2017

Black Friday is the day that reminds us how much people like to rub elbows in physical stores in search of a great deal. While there has always been an impact on online campaigns on Black Friday, our initial analysis shows that consumer behavior continues to shift online, and perhaps to spending a little more time with family.

We’re seeing two interesting differences between 2017 and the previous two years:

  • The jump in spend on Black Friday was 11% more than we observed over the prior two years.
  • Thanksgiving shopping was much quieter than prior years.


Black Friday Bump 11% Larger


For our group of US advertisers, we saw a 62% bump in spend relative to the average spend for the rest of November. This was 11% higher than we observed in 2015 and 2016. Are more consumers looking for deals online instead of heading to the stores? The rise in spend was a result of increased volume and higher click-through rates, which increased from 2.2% to 2.8%.

Black Friday Showing Shifts in Consumer Behavior


More Time with Family


The other interesting observation was that Thanksgiving was slower than in previous years, continuing a pattern we saw last year. Spend was only up 14%, a significant change from 2015 where the bump was 53%. Are people more focused on their families on Thanksgiving or just heading out to the stores earlier for the pre-Black Friday deals?

Stay tuned for updates on Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday season.

Maria Breaux

Marin Software
By submitting this form, I am agreeing to Marin’s privacy policy.

See why brands have relied on Marin to manage over $48 billion in spend