Do you know what season is coming up? Of course you do – it’s shopping season! We’re talking about three major shopping events you probably know well by now – Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas.

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Black Friday comes the day after Thanksgiving, which will be on November 24 in 2023. Traditionally known for in-store deals, Black Friday has now expanded massively online, with many consumers preferring to snag deals from the comfort of their homes.

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Cyber Monday comes three days later. It’s the Monday following Thanksgiving, falling on November 27 in 2023. It’s a day known for online shopping deals and was originally created to encourage people to shop online. Over the years, it has become one of the biggest online shopping days.

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Christmas shopping is an ongoing thing, really. Starting from Black Friday and extending through December, the Christmas shopping season is a crucial time for retailers, publishers and advertisers.

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday Stats – 2022

Black Friday online sales grew 3.5% to $65.3 billion worldwide in 2022. The world was recovering from COVID-19, and restrictions were easing out, so people went out and bought more. U.S. retail sales on Black Friday increased 12%. The numbers are truly amazing: Consumers spent $1.14 trillion online globally across the Holiday Season. Cyber Week sales are 16.7% of the entire season’s revenue, with $35.3 billion in sales in the USA.

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Mobile shopping grows on big holidays, with 60% of revenue coming from mobile purchases on Christmas day. 47% of all U.S. holiday season online sales came from mobile in 2022. During Cyber Week, 51% of all sales came from mobile. This is a very important stat you should note – people are buying from their smartphones, and you should think about that when creating landing pages, for example.

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Traffic is wild during Cyber Week. US buyer activity increases by 512% on Cyber Monday (compared to an average day). This means you should prepare: make sure all your landing pages are working well, check your website for errors and problems, make sure your website can handle the traffic, and ensure all ads are working and showing properly on each platform.

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What are people buying during Cyber Week?

There are specific product categories that sell more during Cyber Monday, but the biggest jump was toys. Here are the product categories that recorded the largest sales jumps on Cyber Monday:

• Toys (684%)
• Sporting goods (466%)
• Appliances (458%)
• Books (439%)
• Jewelry (410%)
• Electronics (391%)
• Computers (372%)

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If you are an affiliate marketer, make sure you have relevant offers in these categories, and of course – check the vendors you’re promoting, to see what kind of deals and offers they have for the shopping season.

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Cyber Monday Marketing Trends

81% of shops planned to have Cyber Monday deals in 2022, a bit less than the 85% that had Black Friday deals.

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On Cyber Monday, there was a 53% jump in chatbot messages worldwide compared to the year before. If you have a Telegram bot for affiliate marketing, make sure it’s up and running before you launch a campaign.

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Social media brought in about 12% of all mobile traffic during the holiday season in 2022, which is a 23% increase from the year before.

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Different ways of promoting deals brought a lot of people to websites during Cyber Week:

• Ads on search engines: 28%
• Deals with partners and affiliates: 18%
• Emails: 17%

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These promotional methods didn’t just bring visitors, they also made money:

• Paid ads on search engines made up 29% of online sales.
• Direct visits to websites accounted for 19%.
• Organic searches made up 17%.
• Partners and affiliates brought in 16%.
• Emails were responsible for 15%.
• Social media contributed 3%.

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During this incredible shopping season, consider targeting the US – that’s where most of the action is. You can also use Event Targeting, which combines time and location factors, letting you create an audience within a specific location. With this approach, you can reach users who were present at a certain event during a specific timeframe and show them tailored ads for up to a month after the event.

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Tips for Preparing for Cyber Week

Optimize Your Content: Ensure your content is fresh, relevant, and tailored to the interests of your audience during Cyber Week. Consider creating buying guides, reviewing popular products, or highlighting top deals in your niche.

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Check and Fix Site Performance: A slow-loading site is bad for business. Before Cyber Week hits, test your website’s speed and optimize accordingly. Ensure that your site can handle a surge in traffic, and that mobile users can use it without issues.

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Affiliate Partnerships: If you’re not already involved in affiliate marketing, Cyber Week is a great time to start. Partner with relevant brands or products and use affiliate links in your content.Newsletters: Capitalize on your email list by sending out newsletters highlighting the best deals, exclusive content, or any special promotions. Remember to segment your email list to target different reader groups effectively.