EC News DeskSalesforce has released its Cyber Week insights, unveiling a record $31 billion in US Cyber Week digital commerce revenue, up 15% from 2018. Despite a shorter holiday shopping season, retailers leveraged advances in artificial intelligence, mobile and social to get shoppers to start early.
With a later Thanksgiving and shortened holiday selling season, retailers made every day count, pushing out discounts and promotions earlier than ever. The average discount rate started at 23% on November 25 and grew steadily throughout the week, ending with a 30% average discount rate on Cyber Monday. Marketers kept the steady drumbeat of engagement to promote their best deals leading into the weekend with the number of emails sent on Black Friday up 17% from Thanksgiving Day. Text messaging also grew on Black Friday, up 22% from Thanksgiving.
AI-powered search and product recommendations gave shoppers exactly what they were looking for, when and where they were looking for it. In fact, up to 9% of digital orders during Cyber Week were a result of AI-powered product recommendations. Shoppers that purchased products from AI-powered recommendations bought 12% more units per transaction across Thanksgiving and Black Friday compared to peers who did not purchase from AI-powered recommendations.
A whopping 73% of global digital traffic came from mobile devices, up from 66% in 2018, marking for yet another groundbreaking year for mobile. However, global mobile orders were the real breakout star, as buying reached 55%, up from 50% in 2018, driving the most digital traffic and orders of any device. In addition to spikes in mobile usage, social buying through mobile also hit an all-time high, growing 41% since 2018 and making up 7% of mobile orders on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a peak day.
Early marketing activity was successful in generating buzz ahead of Cyber Week. During Pre-Cyber Week, November 19 to November 25, digital traffic was up 13% from 2018. Shoppers filled their online baskets, but held out for bigger deals in the week ahead. The strategy paid off, with digital orders growing to 18% during Cyber Week this year.
Ecommerce sites offering in-store order pickup will see big gains late in the season, as shoppers scramble to complete their last minute holiday purchases. Retailers offering this capability on their e-commerce sites will see 48% more active digital shoppers and collect 28% more digital revenue share in the last five days leading up to Christmas.
Commerce Cloud global customers saw 15% digital revenue growth on Cyber Monday and 16% digital revenue growth on Black Friday. From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, Commerce Cloud powered digital sales were up 13% year-over-year.
Marketing Cloud emails sends grew 20% on Black Friday and 13% on Thanksgiving as marketers engaged early and consistently throughout Cyber Week. SMS was again the breakout star as SMS sends grew 133% across Thanksgiving and Black Friday over the same period in 2018.
Service Cloud agents interacted with 3% more cases on Black Friday compared to Thanksgiving as shopping activity picked up before Cyber Weekend. Shoppers were more likely to ring up service centres on Black Friday too, with calls to service centres growing 19% between Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
“With a shorter holiday season, the pressure was on brands and retailers this Cyber Week,” said Rob Garf, VP of Strategy and Insights for Retail and Consumer Goods, Salesforce. “Driven by savvy shoppers looking for convenience, personalisation and speed before the holiday shopping window closes, winners broke down the friction between inspiration and purchase with artificial intelligence, click and collect and improved mobile usability.”
