Cyber Week emerged as a success for the affiliate channel as consumer enthusiasm for retailers’ deals and publisher cash back offers translated into robust sales.
CJ’s numbers tell a compelling story of growth: US retail sales across Cyber Week (Thanksgiving – Cyber Monday) increased 11% YOY driven by strong growth on Cyber Monday and the weekend days preceding it: Cyber Monday’s sales were up 14% YOY, compared to Black Friday’s 6% increase while Small Business Saturday (11/25) and Sofa Sunday (11/26) each saw sales increase 14% YOY.
What fueled this surge? The answer lies in the fact that discounts were 30% better than last year on average.
The Power of Discounts
Discounts have long been the driving force behind Cyber Week's success, and this year was no exception. Savvy shoppers in the US (who have been feeling more confident due to declining inflation) were on the lookout for good deals—and they found them. Shoppers were presented with deals about five basis points better than last year, i.e., the typical Cyber Monday discount in 2023 was 25% off, compared to 20% off in 2022. In the Beauty category, the average rate of discount on Cyber Monday was 40% greater than last year, driving 20% YOY growth for this category throughout the Cyber peak.
For more category-specific and publisher-level performance for Cyber Week, check out CJ’s interactive Q4 Shopping Weekly Benchmarks report updated each Wednesday.
Q4 Publisher Performance
So far, publishers that provide product-level reviews and discounts in have seen the highest rate of growth this Q4. For example, sales from Coupon/Deal model publishers increased 23% YOY during Q4 2023 vs. Q4 2022 and Product Comparison or Review publisher models have increased sales by 17% YOY for the same periods.
While Content, Media & Blog, and Influencer publisher models are slightly down so far YOY, there’s still time this season for the dynamics to shift. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into publisher-level performance in CJ’s Q4 summary in late January.
How Did Europe Fare During Cyber Week 2023?
The 11% YOY spike in Cyber Week’s retail sales is a testament to the robust nature of the affiliate landscape. It also reflects the adaptability of advertisers and publishers in the face of ever-changing economic climates in the US and world markets.
As a global network, CJ has seen first-hand how Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become major retail shopping events beyond the US. This year, sales from shoppers in Europe were robust on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, increasing 8% and 15% YOY, respectively. In the UK, Cyber Monday was the highest-performing sales day of the Cyber period, growing 10% YOY. A real spot of growth this year for the UK market came on Giving Tuesday with 20% YOY sales growth.
What's Next?
As we say goodbye to Cyber Week 2023, the next three weeks hold a lot of potential revenue opportunities. The key shopping days we’ll be watching closely include Green Monday (12/11), Free Shipping Day (12/14), and what we’ve coined as “Panic Sunday” (12/17)—the last day to place online orders that will arrive by Christmas.
For more shopping benchmarks, continue to check out CJ’s interactive Q4 Shopping Weekly Benchmarks report, available on Junction and updated with network trends every Wednesday.
Looking to dive deeper? CJ publishers and advertisers have access to daily updates via the CJ platform via the newly launched Q4 Network Peak Shopping & Holiday Benchmarks dashboard! Head to the Reports tab > Performance > Advanced Analysis > Q4 Network Peak Shopping & Holiday Benchmarks to benchmark your program performance against aggregated YOY performance of the entire CJ network.
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