Third Wave Fashion // DECEMBER 2013 // YEAR END WRAP-UP | Page 31
$19.7
Billion
LAST MONTH, three big online
shopping days shattered records,
clocking in a combined $19.7
Billion, or roughly the GDP of
Liberia. How did the days stack up?
$12.3 Billion
Billion for anksgiving Day and Black Friday
combined.
BLACK FRIDAY
November 29th, 2013
e preponderance of retailers starting their sales
on anksgiving Day itself has started to leech
sales from what was once the biggest shopping
day of the year, but records were still broken for
the day, which a small gain of 2.3%, up to $12.3
Traditionally an in-store holiday, many shoppers
were participating online – and through their
devices, not just desktops. More than half of the
traffic to Walmart.com on the day came through
mobile devices. In fact, in-store traffic saw an
overall decline of 11.4%, which more and more
$5.7 Billion
shoppers bargain-shopped through their mobile
devices and tablets: mobile sales were up 43% for
the day.
And who can blame shoppers for starting to stay
home? e crazy hours and fear of mobs is
starting to seep in.e website Black Friday
Death Count, which is unsettlingly exactly what it
sounds like, made the rounds this year.
SINGLES DAY
November 11th, 2013
Who says that recently invented
holidays can’t compete with more
traditional ones? China’s Singles Day did
just that, breaking all online sales
records in the process.
Editor’s note: I took this picture on a recent trip to Shanghai. I spoke to some Chinese shoppers
about the holiday, and while they had all participated in the shopping, none had heard of the
reason behind the day.
$1.7 Billion
Cyber Monday sales are also starting
to happen earlier; many now start the
weekend before. But overall, the days
saw increases of 18%, to a record
$1.74 Billion in sales rung up through
desktop and mobile devices. is set
the record for the biggest online
shopping day in the US ever.
sites), rang up $5.7 Billion in sales. In 24
hours. (ey are moving towards an
IPO that values them higher than
Facebook… and it’s not hard to see
why!)
e holiday was invented in the 1990s as
a day to lament singlehood, but
embraced as a shopping holiday just 5
short years ago. e shopping day now
puts the US’ Black Friday in the
shadows. is year, Chinese online
commerce company Alibaba (which
owns TMall and other hugely popular
Noteworthy TMall did $1 Billion in revenue in the
first hour alone.
More than a third of the entire
population of China shopped on the
company’s websites. 24% of the overall
sales from the day came through
smartphones.
CYBER MONDAY
December 2nd, 2013
Consumer behavior is changing:
Pinterest saw their site traffic stay the
same that day, but they drove 3.6
times the number of sales as they do
on an average day. Overall, 29.4% of
traffic during the shopping holiday
came from mobile devices and tablets.
Online shopping may still only
represent a small share of all
shopping, but days like these make it
clear that we’re moving online at a
rapid pace.
Editor’s note: our favorite Cyber
Monday sale was when the makers of
the adult card game Cards Against
Humanity actually raised their prices –
and as a result of the cheeky
promotion, saw record sales.
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