A lot has changed since Black Friday first rolled out as a one-day shopping bonanza to kick off the run up to Christmas.  Today, Black Friday has become a season, starting mid-November and running well past Cyber Monday.

Consumers' mindset has also changed.  People are now buying less, researching more, and are well aware that the discounts are likely to get deeper as we inch closer to Christmas. 

Here's what's changed:

THEN:  Big discounts lured people to buy lots of things they didn’t necessarily want or need.

NOW:  People buy specific products they already wanted at a discount.

THEN:  “It’s so cheap, I’ll buy it!”

NOW:  Careful shoppers are asking “do I really need it?” before buying – regardless of steep discounts.

THEN:  Black Friday was one day with massive discounts.  Sales prices were available only on that day.

NOW:  Black Friday is followed by Cyber Monday, and then pre-Christmas promotions.  Consumers feel less urgency to “buy now”.

THEN:  Retailers relied on their domestic market to drive sales

NOW:  Increasingly cross-border sales are accounting for a great share of Black Friday and pre-Christmas sales.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday in Numbers

$5.03 billion. Black Friday revenue, up 17% from 2016

$6.69 billion.  Cyber Monday revenue, up 16.8% from 2016

43% of online purchases were made on Amazon

11.9% year-on-year increase in web traffic to retail sites on Cyber Monday

33.1% of Cyber Monday sales came from mobile devices