Insights: Cyber "Five" Data Thus Far Indicates Strong Start for Holiday

By Scot Wingo, CEO, ChannelAdvisor



Happy Cyber Monday! Each year we at ChannelAdvisor track the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday and call that the “Cyber Five.” This year, our Cyber Five Same Store Sales (SSS) data to date shows that Holiday ’14 is off to a very strong start.



Over the weekend, as retailers battled to get shoppers to buy earlier, we saw Cyber promotions in full swing. For background, most retailers and channels such as a eBay and Amazon typically take their Black Friday promotions off for Cyber Saturday and Cyber Sunday, so we usually expect to see a breather in sales from Black Friday through the holiday weekend. This year, we instead saw a lot of retailers and channels, including Amazon, BestBuy and Walmart, kicking off their “Cyber Savings” or “Cyber Week” promotions starting on Saturday.



In terms of gross merchandise value (GMV), we saw an overall increase on Thanksgiving Day (20.1%), Black Friday (22.0%) and Cyber Saturday (27.0%). eBay had a strong Black Friday with a 26.9 percent year over year increase, and Amazon grew 24.2 percent. We saw significant increases from Amazon throughout the weekend, with a whopping 45.9 percent increase year over year on Cyber Saturday.



When it comes to mobile shopping, our data indicates that Thanksgiving mobile traffic grew 49%, but dropped to 46% on Black Friday. Additionally, our data from Cyber Saturday suggests that consumers were less driven by promotions this year, and more in “hunting” mode, seeking out specific products and promotions.



Overall, we continue to see more than a 20% increase in year over year growth for holiday 2014, and we look forward to seeing the results from today, historically the largest (and most exciting) annual day for online shopping.