62% of American consumers are pessimistic about Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday

For cross-border sellers, the highlight of the year is in the second half of the year. In November and December every year, various shopping festivals such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas come one after another. Especially Black Friday, it is the craziest shopping festival in the United States and it is also a festival that cross-border sellers need to pay special attention to.

Recently, the loyalty engagement platform LoyaltyLion commissioned a report called "Discount Handbook 2021". The report, through a survey of 2014 consumers in the United States conducted by independent research company Censuswide, revealed the main attitudes of American consumers towards discount periods, especially the "Black Friday" and "Cyber ​​1" (BFCM) shopping festivals.

The results of the study show that American consumers are generally pessimistic about the BFCM shopping festival. 62% of American consumers believe that the discounts on goods during BFCM will not be as good as they expected; nearly 65% ​​of consumers said that the products they want are usually not discounted, which makes them feel that the promotions during BFCM have little to do with them. In addition, 62% of respondents believe that the BFCM promotions made them impulsively buy things that they would not normally buy.

Compared with consumers' pessimism about discounts, what is more worrying is the sentiment towards these price-cutting brands. 59% of American consumers believe that brands may sell them goods of lower quality than usual because of discounts; 63% of consumers said that these discount activities will affect their trust in brands; nearly 64% of respondents believe that brands care more about selling products than realizing their own value. Another 63% of consumers believe that brands focus on attracting new customers during BFCM, and existing customers do not feel special.

Consumers believe that the lack of preparation of merchants during BFCM is a key factor affecting their shopping experience. Although merchants have to plan for Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday several months in advance , consumers are still not satisfied. 63% of respondents said that merchants were not prepared for the surge in orders during BFCM; 56% believed that merchants did not communicate well with them after placing an order during the discount period. In addition, 64% of respondents said that brands sent them too many promotional messages during the preparation stage and during the event.

The survey shows that providing free or discounted delivery services will increase consumers' favorability towards the brand, with 80% of respondents saying they want a lower-cost delivery service. Loyalty points are also a way to increase consumers' shopping enthusiasm, with 72% of consumers saying they will make a purchase next time because of the points. In addition, promotional activities such as birthday special offers, early purchases, and new product experiences are also popular with consumers.

Through this report, we can see several factors that affect consumer shopping sentiment. To win the battle of the second half of the year's peak sales season, merchants must plan ahead and provide consumers with more favorable prices, more considerate services, more convenient logistics and better shopping experience during the promotion period.

Consumer sentiment

Black Friday

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