How did Black Friday 2021 go on Amazon?

Updates: Black Friday

Amazon’s sales on Black Friday: + 11%

While there was an overall decline in online sales in the US for the first time, Amazon’s Black Friday sales increased 10.68% year-over-year (YOY)  in comparison to 2020. Amazon stated that the overall order volume was also up on the following Cyber Monday, citing record sales on both days. In total, Amazon accounted for 17.7% of all Black Friday sales, according to Numerator. This represents the highest share of any retailer in the US.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales down in the US for the first time ever

As mentioned in the news above, online sales in the US  fell 1.1% on Black Friday and 1.4% on Cyber Monday compared to 2020, according to Adobe Analytics. This is the first time since performance tracking began that online sales on deal days declined YOY. Shoppers returned to brick-and-mortar stores in greater numbers on Black Friday this year, with the number of shoppers being up 47.5% compared to 2020.

Updates: Amazon

Prices increased by 7.5% on amazon.com

From October 2020 to October 2021, prices on the US Amazon marketplace increased by an average of 7.5%. This is shown by a Profitero analysis of the most popular 1,600 products. While Amazon steadily matches the lowest prices on- and offline, logistical issues have increased costs for manufacturers and thus prices this year. US competitors Walmart and Target were on average 4% and 15% more expensive than Amazon during the same period.

Amazon grows to become the largest package delivery service in the US

Since a logistical fiasco caused by external delivery partners during the 2013 holiday season, Amazon has invested heavily in its own logistics network. Amazon now transports and delivers an estimated 66% of its packages itself and says it will overtake delivery services UPS and FedEx in the US by early 2022. This would make Amazon the largest US package delivery service.

Updates: Other Marketplaces

eBay opens pop-up stores in the US

For the holiday shopping season, eBay is opening “Hard to Find Gift Shops” in the US. Clues about the location of the brick-and-mortar stores (which, according to the name, are supposed to be “hard to find”) can be found on the platform’s social media channels one day before they open. Each store is dedicated to a special theme, such as sneakers, watches and handbags, or collectibles. The move intends to bring to life the diversity of eBay’s offerings, from ‘rare’ to ‘curious’ to ‘sold out everywhere’.

Shopify on its way to becoming a marketplace?

A new cross-merchant search feature including shopping cart and check out within the Shopify app raises questions about the company’s marketplace strategy. Previously, the app had positioned itself more as a counterpart to Amazon in particular: Merchants should be able to build long-term customer loyalty and not enter into direct competition with each other. In parallel, the new “Marketplace Kit” is intended to enable third parties to build their own marketplace from Shopify stores in the future, making the company’s strategy seem two-pronged for now.

What caught our attention

It recently has become possible to link from an Amazon Brand Store to other Brand Stores. This presents a good opportunity for cross-selling as, for example, different brands of a company can be bundled in one Brand Store.

Comment: Our Black Friday Analysis

Black Friday 2021 is over and we have analyzed 21,000 products of all categories on Amazon’s core markets in Europe with our tool Remdash.

The reference for all figures mentioned is the performance on an average day in week 44 – 45 (01 – 14 Nov. 2021), the two weeks before the ‘Early Black Week’ began.

In our analysis, we found some surprising insights:

• Early Black Friday proved to be the strongest day in the deal period after Black Friday itself. Sales increased 62% overall (vs. 138% on Black Friday), and even 210% for products with deals (vs. 229% on Black Friday). Despite the overall very long offer period from 19 – 29 Nov. 2021 and the resulting increased level of sales, the performance of the two special Fridays stood out once again.
• Cyber Monday 2021, on the other hand, was comparatively weak: sales increased by “only” 42% compared to an average day during the time period before.

• Products without deals were also able to benefit from Black Friday: Their sales increased by about half as much on Black Friday (+ 114%) as the sales of deal ASINs (+ 229%).
• Advertising achieved the best results up to and including Black Friday; here, too, sales were concentrated on the two individual days of Early Black Friday (+ 81%) and Black Friday (+ 127%). ACoS was best on Early Black Friday (- 16%) and worst on Cyber Monday (+ 65%).

• Black Friday 2021 results are not as disappointing year-over-year as is currently widely reported (Black Week sales + 67% in 2021 vs. + 51% in 2020) – however, Black Friday 2020 was impacted by Prime Day just prior.

The full Black Friday analysis is now available on our blog.

Remdash: Amazon Label Tracking

With Remdash, it is possible to track the current status and historical development of your own products’ various labels on Amazon. The labels are visible in Amazon’s search results and can lead to higher sales:

• Amazon Bestseller
• Amazon’s Choice
• Climate Pledge Friendly 
• Energy Efficiency
• Plus Product

Interested in Remdash? 
Just click here to schedule a personal product demo with our team.

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

Christmas preparations are now in full swing on the Amazon marketplaces we analyzed, with customers searching for Christmas decorations, trees and movies. Advent calendars were also still among the top search terms. The most popular gift ideas on Amazon are Lego and the “Nintendo Switch” console.