Dive Brief:
-
Amazon was responsible for 55% of all online transactions that occurred on Black Friday, as well as for more than 45% of online checkouts completed on Thanksgiving Day, according to data supplied to the publication Dealerscope by analytics company Hitwise.
-
That means Amazon accounted for 7.14 million of 13 million transactions that occurred on Black Friday, as well as 5.64 million of the 12.5 million orders placed on Thanksgiving Day.
-
Separately, marketing technology company Amobee, which monitors digital content engagements and their relation to various brands told Retail Dive via e-mail that 36% of all Black Friday digital content engagement was Amazon-related. In comparison, early yesterday through 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, about 55% of all Cyber Monday digital content engagement was Amazon-related.
Dive Insight:
It comes as little surprise that Amazon dominated the biggest holiday shopping reason of the year. However, hearing in real numbers just how much the e-commerce giant commanded this past weekend is still a bit startling.
According to the stats that Hitwise provided to Dealerscope, the company that came in second to Amazon for share of online transactions on Black Friday was Walmart, which was responsible for almost 1.14 million transactions. That 8.8% share of the total sound impressive until you put it next to Amazon’s 55%. Walmart got a somewhat bigger piece of the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, taking an almost 14% slice out of online transactions.
Walmart has done a lot with its online endeavors and acquisitions to make us believe it should be identified as being in the same league as Amazon, but that numbers comparison makes the whole thing sound laughable.
Meanwhile, the rest of the top 10 in online transactions from Black Friday included, in order: Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target, Apple, Macy’s (despite technical glitches), Old Navy, Home Depot, GameStop, and Toys R Us. Curiously, neither Apple nor Old Navy made the top 10 on Thanksgiving — both Costco and GameStop did.
With more shopping moving online and on mobile, more Amazon dominance is expected to come. Amobee likened Amazon’s online dominance over Black Friday weekend to a successful sports team with a home court advantage, and the fact is that everyone else in the retail sector increasingly will be played on Amazon’s home court.
With this in mind, Cyber Monday wasn’t starting out much differently yesterday, with Amazon dominating again, according to Amobee’s digital content insights. However, Target and Walmart are also becoming a bigger part of the Cyber Monday conversation, with Target generating 32% as much Cyber Monday digital content engagement as Amazon. The digital deals week isn't over. Many retailers, including Amazon and Target will keep the cyber sales going throughout the week.
