Amazon Wins Black Friday for 2nd Consecutive Year, Numerator Reports

By STS News Desk On Dec 1, 2021

Inflation to Impact Half of New Year’s Resolutions, Numerator Reports

Amazon #1 Retailer Across Every Ethnicity and Generation with Notable Exception of Gen Z

Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has released early read data showing Amazon has captured the highest share of Black Friday 2021 spend for the second year in a row. This reflects all retailer banners across fast moving consumer goods channels, eCommerce, apparel and specialty stores, and is available for key retailers in total and by generation, income level and ethnicity. In addition, Numerator’s Cyber Weekend survey, with 4,000+ verified purchase respondents as of Monday morning, showed that consumers were back in-store, had lower concerns about crowds and COVID, but with some spending less due to concerns about inflation.

“Brands and retailers are learning to respond in real time to changes in consumer behavior,” said Eric Belcher, CEO, Numerator. “But with traditional market share measurement, results are reported far too late and without the consumer context needed for rapid decisions. We have invested in new technology like Numerator TruView to enable brands and retailers to make the shift to faster, omnichannel views by consumer segments unlocking more growth opportunities.”

Black Friday Share Data Findings:

Overall: The consumer shift to online shopping surged.

Online share grew again this year, accounting for 38.1% of overall sales on Black Friday, up 11.5 points from last year.
Amazon won for the second year in a row, capturing 17.7% of overall Black Friday sales.

By Generation: Younger consumers were more likely to shop in-store, especially at Walmart.

Amazon was the top retailer for all generations except Gen Z, who spent more of their Black Friday dollars at Walmart (12.7%).
Amazon also gained share for all generations except Gen Z, who lost 1.3 points versus last year. Walmart and Target both gained share with Gen Z vs. 2020, particularly with their in-store divisions.
Younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials) have higher shares at Target than older generations (Gen X & Boomers).

By Ethnicity: Amazon tied with Costco for share of Asian spend, tied with Walmart for share of Hispanic/Latino spend and drove the largest growth in African American spend.

Costco and Amazon ended in a virtual tie with Asian consumers while Walmart and Amazon had nearly equal share of spend across Hispanic/Latino consumers (with Amazon slightly edging out both retailers).
Black/African American consumers showed the largest growth in spend at Amazon of any ethnicity (+7.1 pts vs year ago).
Black/African Americans were the only group showing growth at BestBuy.com (+3.5 pts vs year ago).
White/Caucasian consumers had the highest share at Amazon of any ethnic group (18.4%).

By Income: High income shoppers drove the largest growth in online share – but Amazon share grew more with low income than high income.

Walmart was the top retailer among low income shoppers (<$40k), while middle income ($40k-80k) and high income (>$80k) shoppers spent more at Amazon. Amazon grew share with all income groups, but most significantly with middle income consumers.
High income individuals saw the largest share growth online compared to low and middle income. Their growth was twice as high as low income shoppers (+14.1 pts vs. +6.2 pts).
Costco and Best Buy in-store locations saw the largest share declines across income groups and in total, with online gains not large enough to offset losses.

Cyber Weekend Survey Findings:

1 in 3 consumers cited inflation as the reason behind higher Cyber Weekend spending. Of the 22% of consumers who said they spent more on Cyber Weekend 2021 than last year, one-third (33%) attributed their higher spend to rising prices.
Inflation had consumers spending less this Cyber Weekend. Among those who claimed they spent less this year, 30% said it was because they had less disposable income due to rising prices on everyday goods.
Product shortages led to incomplete Cyber Weekend shopping lists. More than one-third (35%) of Cyber Weekend shoppers said they were not able to buy everything on their list this year, up from 32% in 2020. The top reasons indicated were out-of-stocks (43%) and being unable to find items (38%).
More consumers planned for Cyber Weekend in advance this year. 91% of respondents said they planned ahead, vs. 84% in 2020. Over half (57%) knew more than a week in advance that they would shop.
Consumers are pacing to finish gift shopping earlier this year. More than half (54%) said they were mostly or completely done with their holiday gift shopping before the start of Cyber Monday. In 2020, 60% said the same by the end of Cyber Monday.
Cyber Weekend shoppers went back into stores this year, after a 2020 hiatus. This year, 32% said they did most or all of their Cyber Weekend shopping online, compared to nearly half (46%) of Cyber Weekend 2020 shoppers who said the same. Another 16% said they did all of this year’s shopping in-store, up from 11% last year.
COVID impacts are significantly down compared to Cyber Weekend 2020. Of those consumers who said they shopped more online compared to last year, 24% said it was to avoid large crowds, down from more than half of these consumers last year (53%). This year, 21% said they were shopping more online in general due to COVID concerns, down from 52% last year.
Half of Cyber Weekend buyers also shopped on Amazon Prime Day. Despite Prime Day shifting from October (2020) to June (2021), the percentage of consumers shopping both retail events did not change (56% in 2021, 55% in 2020).
Retailers attracted new Cyber Weekend shoppers this year. Almost 3 in 10 (29%) Cyber Weekend 2021 shoppers did not shop Cyber Weekend last year. In 2020, 17% said the same about Cyber Weekend 2019.
Early Black Friday Deals pulled in more people this year. Nearly two-thirds (63%) said they shopped early deals before Thanksgiving in 2021, compared to 52% in 2020.

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