5 Big Takeaways from Black Friday 2018

As Cyber Monday gets underway, another Black Friday looms behind us. Below are the highlights of brick-and-mortar retail’s big day as we prepare for the windfall expected from its digital counterpart.

1. Brick-and-mortar foot traffic appears to be down. Estimates range from a virtually negligible drop of 1% to more steady declines of 5 to 9%. That would mark the continuation of a disappointing trend given the effort retailers are putting into reversing the negative inertia of the past few years of in-store shopping.

2. Where’s all that offline spending going? Online, of course. Adobe Analytics reported that $6.22 billion was spent online on Friday, marking a whopping 23.6% jump over the previous year.

3. It’s not as simple as a zero-sum competition between online and offline. Industry analysts posit that emerging omnichannel approaches to retail played a big factor this year, as consumers took advantage of options like ordering online and picking up in-store.

4. Mobile continues to take a larger share of the e-commerce pie. Over thirty-three percent of online orders were placed on mobile this year compared to 29% last year, Adobe indicated. That amounted to over $2 billion in sales.

5. Free shipping is an indispensable strategy for online retailers looking to stay ahead. According to Deloitte, 88% of shoppers prefer free shipping to fast shipping, and a whopping 47% of shoppers who said they’d shop in-store attributed that decision to a desire to avoid shipping costs.

Joe Zappa is Street Fight’s managing editor.