Black Friday 2021 – The Early Results Are In

Nearly everyone tried their hand at being the best sale this Black Friday and while it’s too early to decide who the winners and losers are of the shopping frenzy, there are a few trends that are important to note. 

What we know from Black Friday 2021 so far?

Considering in 2020 consumers spent 9 billion dollars online, it’s hard to ignore the digital impact Black Friday has. We don’t think anyone had any reservations about who would be the most popular retailer this time around, yes, it’s Amazon with 335 million searches worldwide. Then follows eBay, Walmart, The Home Depot and Flipkart. 

It will come as no surprise however, that the keyword search “Black Friday Deals” is the most popular term after Black Friday itself of course, so when planning your SEO strategy it’s hard to compete with the sheer amount of searches on the web. With that being said, we’re not suggesting to shy away from the Black Friday fiasco, as it can greatly boost your traffic and business revenue. 

How to prep your SEO for 2022

Keyword research is an essential building block for a successful Black Friday SEO campaign. For most retailers the idea of ranking well for the most competitive terms such as “Black Friday Deals”or “Black Friday Sales” is a pipe dream. Instead, it makes more sense to concentrate on more specific, niche, long tail keywords. If you sell sports equipment break the site down into individual categories and aim at keywords like “Back Friday Golf Club Deals”.

There are ways to help you stand out from the crowd such as implementing technical improvements, ensuring your website is healthy and inline with best practice. You can also try to publish your planned offers early enough to better influence the chance of external links to your site; this list is not exhaustive with many more SEO tactics available.

How have businesses done this year?

We may be quick on our feet to capture those once in a lifetime sales, especially with the Christmas season on the horizon, but what of the impact on suppliers? Those supplying goods had a tremendous task of playing catch up once we reopened after the pandemic.

But were the sales really worth it this year? The supply chain is struggling to cope and the prices for some sales aren’t really that cheap, the need for leveling profits after months of no sales clearly outweighed the slashed prices, however for some this was not the case. 

Retailers such as Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo flaunted their massive sales with almost 100% off most items. All well and good for those hungry fashionistas but if you stop to think about the destructive nature of fast fashion, you may think twice next time the 99p Pretty Little Thing sale makes a debut. 

For these incredible prices to be readily available and quick to ship, those creating goods are under immense pressure to prepare high volumes of merch. If we take the fashion industry for example, the garments sold will only last one fashion cycle, will most likely make their way to charity shops and will be thrown away within the year. Also, the materials used are all likely forms of polyester, a material that isn’t biodegradable, which has a big impact on the environment.

We’re not saying that Black Friday only brings bad news but we want the implications of fast turnaround and potential poor products to be in the limelight as much as the masses of revenue. 

It’s not just the fashion industry that benefited from an increased turnover however, air travel bookings were up by 103% and we don’t need to remind you of the environmental issues with that one. Buy now, pay later options have soared, with many still struggling to regain financial freedom after a horrific year, these alternative payment platforms such as Klarna and Clearpay, offer a lending hand. Companies like these saw a 422% increase in spending and order volume was up 438%. 

How can we create sustainable shopping?

There are ways we can create a sustainable Black Friday and we’re not the only ones who think so. Patagonia, who had $10 million in sales and are donating every single last penny towards saving the planet. As a company that vouches Digital for Good, we want more companies to follow in Patagonia’s footsteps. The high end retailer is setting high standards for future sales and bringing forth the much needed conversation about the impact of overzealous sales. 

There are many ways that companies can lead the way for environmentally friendly solutions to fast paced sales such as offering to donate not just revenue gained but items no longer needed. For instance many retailers clear out old stock ready for the new lines, why not donate these to those who need it. Lord Taverns has a ‘Sports Kit Recycling’ programme that helps young people in the UK and abroad gain access to equipment. Just one of many initiatives that can make a difference. 

Whilst it’s clear there are winners and losers following Black Friday, it’s far too early to tell exactly who will be celebrating with champagne and who will be having an emergency strategic meeting in the boardroom. Here at Organic, we’ll be on the lookout for ways to enforce our Digital for Good ethos and, of course, enjoy the sales!