Volume 3, Edition 13

RetailMeNot Releases Black Friday Predictions and Shopping Trends for 2014

Trend 1: 5 Days of Savings

According to internal RetailMeNot data, during the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in 2013, the deepest discounts (measured by percentage off) occurred on Black Friday. In 2012, the Sunday before Cyber Monday featured the deepest discounts for that same time period. What does this mean for 2014? Be on the lookout for strong offers throughout the Thanksgiving–Cyber Monday shopping period as retailers stagger offers in response to shopping patterns.

Trend 2: Staggered Deals  

Throughout the 2013 holiday season, retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon staggered deals to create a sense of excitement with consumers or to help prevent in-store bottlenecks on busy shopping days. We expect more retailers to implement this strategy in 2014. RetailMeNot conducted a survey with Kelton Research after last year’s holiday season and, not surprisingly, found 46% of Black Friday shoppers felt that stores were less crowded on Black Friday 2013 than in previous years.

Trend 3: Stock Guarantees

To alleviate some of the frustration consumers experience during the holiday shopping season, particularly on big sale days like Black Friday, stores like Walmart and Best Buy guaranteed product availability during specific time frames. If a guaranteed item was out of stock, the discounted price was honored and the item was shipped free of charge to the consumer.

Trend 4: Price Matching

Many retailers like Best Buy, Staples, Toys R Us, Office Depot, Target and Walmart offered price matching of some kind in 2013. Target, which only offered price matching during the holidays, recently announced that it would price match all year. Similarly, Walmart’s new Savings Catcher program will give out e-cards if consumers find a lower advertised price at select retailers.

Trend 5: Omni-channel Shopping

Consumers can now use multiple platforms to seek out product information, find deals and make purchases. Retailers are making it easier than ever for consumers to shop in whatever way they choose, whether consumers browse digital circulars on their smartphones and purchase in-store, or browse in-store and purchase on their tablets. Deals are also becoming more fluid and can often be used across channels.

Trend 6: Membership Benefits

Membership has its privileges, especially during the holidays. Over the last couple of years, retailers like Kmart released info on early deals and Kohl’s and Target loyalty members received extra points for purchases.

Trend 7: The Deal-Playing Field

We typically see the strongest deals in electronics on Black Friday, but based on RetailMeNot coupon click data from 2013, we saw a slight downturn in electronics in favor of apparel and health and beauty. Our advice? Continue to keep your eyes peeled for those electronics doorbusters, but also look for deals in the apparel and health-and-beauty spaces as well.

Trend 8: Enhanced In-store Experience

Understanding the value of the in-store consumer, brick-and-mortar retailers have been improving their game when it comes to the shopping experience. We’ve seen everything from free in-store Wi-Fi, tablets made available to consumers to conduct research, fashion shows, classes in crafting, gift wrapping and more.

Trend 9: Avoid Last-Minute Shipping Orders

In 2013, many retailers guaranteed last-minute shipping to consumers, but they weren’t able to make good on those promises due to weather delays and at-capacity shipping centers like FedEx and UPS. This year, we expect to see retailers make efforts to lessen last-minute shipping orders by staggering deals, shipping items to nearby stores and other convenient strategies.