Black Friday and Cyber Monday Statistics for 2021

Want to know the eCommerce stats and trends for this years’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Our data analysts weigh in on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021 performance and compares these figures to the massive revenues seen in 2020. Read on to discover insights and predictions for the upcoming 2022 eCommerce year.

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021 performance must be understood against the backdrop of drastic changes in 2020.

Ecommerce sales jumped an estimated 45% year-on-year compared to 2019’s figures, according to research. While eCommerce had been steadily growing prior to then, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this process to bring eCommerce profit to 19% of total global retail sales by 2020, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Given the dramatic jump from 2019 to 2020, the YOY change from 2020 to 2021 was predictably more modest.

Cyber Week 2021 saw a 4% growth in sales over 2020. This translates to $62 billion in total sales.

Though this may seem small, it’s important to note that Black Friday revenue 2021 comes after explosive growth in 2020 along with an impressive increase from 2019. According to DataHawk’s reporting, Black Friday 2019 saw a 19.6% increase over previous years and was reported to be the second-highest single day of growth in the history of eCommerce.

Given these numbers, Cyber Week, and especially Black Friday results for 2021, can be seen as a continuation of previous trends.

RetailNext, a firm that uses cameras and motion sensors to track traffic in thousands of retail locations, reported that in-store traffic rose by 61% on Black Friday 2021. It was still down by 27% compared to 2019.

Similar reporting from Sensormatic Solutions indicated a 48% growth in foot traffic over 2020, though 28% lower than 2019.

Business Insider reports that the slight rebound to brick-and-mortar store business could be partially attributable to concerns about shipping delays and supply-chain issues.

In-store apparel sales saw a 47.5% growth in October 2021 compared to the same month in

2020, according to Statista. Many retail locations, like Macy’s, focused on building their inventory of a fewer number of items in the hopes of avoiding out-of-stock items. Other retailers reported holiday stock stuck in transit, according to NPR.

Looking forward, eCommerce vendors can expect returned competition from brick-and-mortar stores while still expecting to maintain the dominance they have gained over the past three years.

Amazon alone saw a 14% rise in out-of-stock items on its site since the start of 2021. This limited some vendors’ sales for 2021 year because they could not maintain stock for popular items.

Supply chain issues are largely traceable to disruptions in the global manufacturing and fulfillment structure. Much of 2021’s stock issues were attributable to the shortage of shipping containers, which were once in such excess supply that people even converted them into homes.

Pre-pandemic, a shipping container transporting goods from China to the port of Los Angeles costs about $1,200. In 2021, that cost had risen to $20,000.

In addition, a national truck driver shortage rises prices higher and makes shortages more acute. The American Trucking Association estimates there is a shortage of about 80,000 truck drivers nationwide.

Thanks to the increased production of shipping containers and hiring incentives for more warehouse and shipping workers, some of these wrinkles are expected to be ironed out by mid-2022.

One of the biggest changes in 2020 was the increased sales reported across the month of November, not just during Cyber Week.

Adobe Digital Insights reported that Black Friday revenue 2021 numbers were down 1.4% from last year. Consumers even spent less on average during Cyber Week 2021 than they did in 2019, pre-pandemic.

Despite this, the overall numbers for the entire month are encouraging. Total sales were up 9% from 2020 for November as a whole. This equals $136 billion in eCommerce sales. It also points towards the importance of an extended shopping and shipping season.

Categories that generated strong Black Friday Revenue 2021, according to RetailNext, included:

• Luxury handbags – 60% YOY increase
• Furniture – 56% YOY increase
• Footwear – 20% YOY increase

According to Adobe Digital Insights, which closely tracked the eCommerce spend for 2021, Cyber Monday 2021 top categories include:

• Toys (up 11% in November vs September 2021)
• Gift Cards (up 7%)
• Books (7%)
• Video games (6%)
• Baby/Toddler Products (6%)
• Kitchen Appliances (5.6%)

Note that these numbers are compared to the pre-holiday shopping season of the same year: not year-on-year increases.

While categories like furniture and home workout equipment have performed consistently well during the pandemic, agile retailers will need to conduct in-depth product research to determine the best items to feature in their valuable inventory space.

Of all major digital retailers, Walmart is closest to closing the price gap with Amazon. Walmart’s prices are, on average, within 4% of Amazon’s across all categories.

Home furniture, beauty, and food and beverage were the most competitive categories, with Walmart coming within 1% of Amazon prices.

Walmart’s prices on electronics and video games were still 9% and 13% more expensive than Amazon’s, respectively.

Jim Snabe, chairman of German conglomerate Siemens and Danish shipping firm Maersk, predicts that the supply chain crisis may have balanced out by mid-2022. The global shipping and trucking systems are still adjusting to the higher demand for physical goods along with a worker shortage. It is likely that this will be more in balance by the 2022 holiday season.

Cyber Week 2021 demonstrated continued ecommerce growth while also exhibiting strain on the supply chain. Though popular retailers like Amazon and Walmart saw increased sales, large vendors like Gap estimated that supply chain fulfillment issues likely resulted in somewhere between $550 to $650 million lost sales.

If the supply chain balances out by Cyber Week 2022, we may expect to see even greater holiday sales across the month of November.