8 Major Black Friday eCommerce Trends To Look Out For in 2024

The retail space (eCommerce particularly), is constantly evolving. What worked last year may not work this year – let alone relying on the same techniques you used to drive sales 3, 4, 5+ years ago.

It’s important to stay on top of the latest trends in eCommerce, particularly when it comes to major events on the shopping calendar, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

This weekend can make or break a brand’s year. Any retailer will tell you this time is crucial, for giving you the momentum you need to own the holiday season, and enter the new year strong.

To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the top eCommerce and Black Friday trends you need to be aware of, and for each, actionable steps to take to ensure this year’s Cyber Week is the best ever for your brand.

Fastest-Rising Black Friday Trends (and Takeaways For Your Brand)

We like to stay on top of all the latest trends in the eCommerce and retail industry, so we can share the most up to date insights with you, our reader. 

Here are (in our opinion), the top trends you need to know coming into this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday period, based on recent BFCM statistics, as well as recent trends in the eCommerce space.

More People Shopping Online

eCommerce, in general, keeps rising every year, even more so during Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the days in between (“Cyber Week”).

Cyber Week 2023 accounted for $35.3 billion in online spending in the US, and a record $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday’s numbers were up 5.8% on the previous year, while Cyber Week in general was up 4% year on year.

Overall, eCommerce’s share of retail sales in the US is growing each year at a pace of around 1% per year – projected to make up 20.3% of all retail spending in 2024.

With Black Friday’s reputation for drawing huge crowds (which many people say puts them off shopping), and the ease of shopping online today, expect another record-breaking Black Friday-Cyber Monday for eCommerce.

Takeaways:
As an eCommerce brand, make sure you have enough stock on hand and the capability to handle more sales each year – don’t miss out on the BFCM gold rush because you run out of stock!

The Mobile Revolution

Like eCommerce revolutionized retail, another technology is currently staging a revolution in the eCommerce industry – mobile.

One notable statistic from Black Friday 2023 was mobile continuing to facilitate a greater share of all online sales.

For two years in a row, more sales came on mobile than desktop for Cyber Week (51% in 2022, 51.8% in 2023).

Mobile sales on Thanksgiving day surged to a massive 59% of all online sales.

Worldwide, mobile commerce already accounts for 57% of global eCommerce sales, and makes up a $2 trillion industry.

There’s no reason to assume this trend will slow down. Instead, expect mobile commerce to keep growing, and again make up the majority of all online sales during Cyber Week.

Takeaways:
The mobile commerce trend is nothing new, so most brands should be well positioned to convert mobile shoppers in 2024. But if you’re still behind on this, make it a priority to get your website fully optimized for mobile. Additionally, launch your own mobile app to pounce on the opportunity to turn BFCM sales into loyal, long-term customers.

Higher Spend Per Person

There’s more money being spent online during Cyber Week, and the holiday period in general.

But it’s not just more people shopping online. People are typically spending more in each transaction, and more over the entire period.

Average holiday spending has been rising each year, with 23% of people spending more than $1,000 in the holiday season in 2023 (up from 14% just two years prior).

The average cart price for Shopify merchants during the 2023 BFCM period was $108.12 – up from $102.10 in 2022, and 100.70 in 2021.

Expect this to continue in 2024.

Takeaways:
Understand the psychology of Black Friday shoppers – people are in more of a mood to spend money, and this is a great chance to boost sales volume and move inventory.

More Customers Using BNPL

The big winners of BFCM 2023 were Buy Now Pay Later services (such as Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna).

On Cyber Monday alone, $940 million was spent using these services, an increase of 44% from the previous year.

There were 85% more BNPL orders in Cyber Week 2023 than the week prior, and 88% more revenue generated – showing that shoppers are willing to get creative to take advantage of the great deals on offer.

Takeaways:
In 2024, offering a range of payment options is essential. And along with allowing people to pay by various card types and mobile wallets, it’s becoming key to offer BNPL as an option, to capture as many conversions as possible.

Longer Promotional Period

Once upon a time, Black Friday was for brick-and-mortar sales, and all the big online deals reserved for Cyber Monday.

Then Black Friday grew to include eCommerce sales as well, “Small Business Saturday” emerged, and it became “Cyber Week”, rather than just Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

It’s not stopping there. Thanksgiving is growing as a part of Cyber Week, with 35% of people planning to start their Black Friday shopping on Thursday.

In 2023, 35.1 million people made a purchase online on Thanksgiving.

And don’t expect it to be contained to the period of Thursday-Monday – there’s even growing adoption of the term “Cyber Ten”, referring to the period of ten days starting from the Sunday before Black Friday through to the Tuesday after Cyber Monday.

With the intense competition for consumers’ attention (and money), more and more brands are starting their promotions early, instead of waiting until the traditional Cyber Week period. 

Look for this to continue, as “early Black Friday” sales present an opportunity to get ahead of the primary Cyber Week rush.

Takeaways:
While shorter promotions create a sense of urgency, it may be worth running longer promotions or starting your promotions before Cyber Week kicks off, in order to beat the virtual crowds, and the millions of other brands trying to make a sale.

Higher Discounts (In Most Categories)

Competition for discounts is on the rise. Each year, the standard for what is enough to capture consumers’ attention grows.

Average discounts are steadily increasing in most categories:

• Electronics: average discount of 31% off (2023) vs 25% off (2022).
• Computers: 24% off (2023) vs 20% off (2022).
• Apparel: 23% off (2023) vs 18% off (2022).
• Furniture: 21% off (2023) vs 8% off (2021).

The one category where the average discount declined in 2023 was Toys, which went from 34% off on average to 27% off (although this is still up on the average discount from 2021).

Don’t be surprised if the averages rise again in 2024.

Takeaways:
Be prepared to have to offer higher discounts on your products than last year, or else come up with more creative ways of catching your customers’ attention during BFCM.

Less Reliance on Paid Advertising

While paid ads are still the most common way to drive traffic during BFCM, this channel’s market share is slowly decreasing, with paid search contributing 27% of sales in 2023 vs 28% in 2022.

These channels are becoming more competitive, more expensive, and less effective, with more stringent control of cookies and user privacy making it more difficult to target the right audiences.

Look for other channels to rise, particularly owned channels like SMS and push notifications.

According to Omnisend, merchants sent 308.9% more SMS messages on Cyber Monday 2023, and sent 12.7 million push messages over the Cyber Ten, a YoY increase of 91.3%.

These channels are the perfect low-cost alternative to paid ads, and a more effective option than fighting for visibility in consumers’ clogged email inboxes at this time.

Takeaways:
Start working early on building your customers lists for channels like SMS and push, to be able to utilize these channels during Cyber Week. If you don’t already have one, consider building a mobile app for your store, to get access to native mobile push notifications for your BFCM campaigns.

Learn more: our Ultimate Guide to Push Notifications for eCommerce gives you everything you need to run amazing push campaigns during Cyber Week.

Higher Competition, Higher Bar for the Shopping Experience

All up, there’s simply more competition in the retail space every year.

With more competition, the bar for what consumers expect gets higher. They want higher discounts, and you need more persuasive copy to convert them.

Just as importantly, you need a better shopping experience.

If shoppers find it frustrating to navigate your checkout process, or find what they’re looking for, there are deals from a hundred other brands waiting for them, and they’ll be quick to jump ship.

Takeaways:
Put the work in to make sure your customer experience is fully optimized before Black Friday. Streamline your checkout flow and fix any bugs or usability issues on your website. 

Check out our Ultimate PDP Guide for tips on building high-converting product pages.

How to Own Cyber Week 2024 with Mobile Apps

One of the best things you can do to own Cyber Week this year, and for years to come, is to launch your own mobile app.

A mobile app is a powerful tool to have in your Black Friday arsenal.

• It lets you provide a contained shopping experience, free from many of the distractions shoppers are faced with during this period.
• Apps offer a more mobile-friendly experience, catered towards the growing number of mobile-first shoppers.
• You can cut through the noise on Black Friday, with an app icon on your users’ home screens and access to native push notifications.
• Apps are geared towards retention, making it easier to build the momentum of BFCM into long-term revenue.

In 2024, and even more in the years to come, you’ll see brands with their own app dominate Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Get Started Now

If you don’t have an app yet, it’s not too late to build one.

Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to take 6 months to a year, and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, to launch your own mobile app.

With MobiLoud, it takes just a few weeks to build your app, with no effort, expertise or major investment required.

You’ll simply convert your existing site into an app – no rebuilding, no overhead, no messing around with new codebases, developers, or agencies.

We do all the work for you, using what you’ve already built and the features and optimizations you already know work, to deliver an app experience your customers will love.

Just see the results from other brands we’ve worked with, such as Tobi, John Varvatos, Jack & Jones, and more. 

Get in touch and book a demo today to learn more about the process, and how MobiLoud can help your brand reach new heights during Cyber Week.