European retailers have revamped Black Friday

Black Friday outshone Cyber Monday; France and Spain led the way!

Europeans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, nor do they have the day off the day after, but retailers have managed to create a brand-new holiday sale in Europe from scratch. Surprisingly, they’ve managed to capitalize on this new holiday sale by promising to offer a new customer experience.

Now let’s take a closer look at France, Spain, Italy, and Poland.

It’s a fact: despite having no cultural roots here, Black Friday is becoming increasingly popular across Europe, with interest continuing to grow since 2014. Among the 300 retailers surveyed* in 2017, 17% included Black Friday in their seasonal calendar in 2014, 30% in 2015, and 50% in 2016. This trend affects all brands, including 62% of retailers, 31% of online-only retailers, and 7% of brick-and-mortar stores. Among the top five sectors, 34% are in ready-to-wear, 10% in services and tourism, and 8% in cosmetics and wellness.

European retailers have reinvented Black Friday, turning it into a weekend—or even a full week—of online and in-store sales. Black Friday is mentioned in marketing campaigns 88% of the time, compared to just 12% for Cyber Monday. With 31% of online retailers using Black Friday as a sales strategy, this highlights the shift toward digital platforms for what was originally a brick-and-mortar store event.

Marketing campaigns clearly aimed at driving both online and in-store traffic, promising customers a new experience—one distinct from the major sales event scheduled for early 2018. The campaigns kicked off in full swing on November 20, one week before Black Friday, and achieved strong open rates of around 27%, demonstrating consumer interest in this event.

Desktop is king, but mobile usage has continued to grow in France (57%) and Italy (193%) since 2014. We are also seeing significant growth in SMS communications—300% since 2014—a channel typically used for loyalty programs and building closer relationships with customers.

Has Europe experienced Black Friday in the same way? France and Spain are leading the way! Retailers there were very enthusiastic and promoted Black Friday extensively, whereas Poland is still getting used to the concept, and Italy fell short of expectations due to the discrepancy between their marketing efforts and low sales caused by strikes.

Having quickly grown from a one-day event into a week-long celebration, Black Friday is a fast track to the transition to omnicommerce. Coordinating online and offline campaigns presents a real business opportunity for retailers to drive traffic both online and in-store. In the future, this could become a business reality by offering personalized shopping experiences to further boost sales. The enthusiasm among French retailers has already been validated by consumer spending, according to recent estimates from Fevad in France .

November can be a great time to launch your brand strategy and introduce new shopping experiences. This is an approach that some brands have already adopted, and one that consumers have embraced. It’s a great opportunity to combine the shopping experience with brand discovery: delight your existing customers with private sales, and attract new customers with Black Friday and Cyber Monday to clear out inventory—all while staying active on social media.

In other words, Black Friday is here to stay, with all its European nuances: Black Friday is digital, lasts eight days, is omnichannel, and kicks off the holiday season with a bang!

Check out our infographics for more info!

*Splio surveyed 300 of its marketing platform clients in Europe in November 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017