Who won and lost on Black Friday 2024?

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Times are definitely changing in the retail universe.

Black Friday, originally meant for in-store shopping, is still making waves—but mostly online. There’s nothing wrong or bad about it, but it does show to capture as many shoppers as possible, you really need to adapt to changes.

Anyway, we have more Black Friday news for you today, so dig in!

• Black Friday winners and losers 📝
• A smart Amazon reimbursement solution 💵
• Going global in 2025 🌏

BIG IDEA

Black Friday has come and gone. U.S. retail sales were up 3.4% compared to last year, with the event peaking after 2 PM (ET).

But of course, we know you’re more excited to know what/who shone and flopped during the event. So, without further ado, here are the Black Friday highlights shared by Retail Dive.

🏆 The winners

1. The ecommerce industry

• Black Friday 2024 managed to cross the $10 billion mark! That’s pretty big for a sales event mostly geared toward brick-and-mortar stores.
• In a report by Adobe, online sales in the U.S. rose 10.2% to $10.8 billion.

2. AI technologies

• AI and AI agents drove more than $14 billion in global online sales. 

• According to Salesforce, retailers who used generative AI and chatbots in their customer service had a 9% higher conversion rate than those who didn’t. 📈
• Adobe’s survey found that consumers used chatbots to find deals, with 19% using them to find items and 15% using them for brand recommendations.

3. Toys

• Last year, the toy category had it rough, with an 8% downturn in sales.
• This Black Friday, online sales were up 622% compared to average daily sales last month!

💔 The losers

1. In-store shopping

• According to RetailNext, overall store traffic on Black Friday was down 3.2%.
• Mastercard added that online sales rose 14.6% year-over-year, while in-store sales increased by just 0.7%.
• Payment firm Block found that online carts were more than twice the size of in-store carts. 🛒

2. Prices and profits

• Steeper discounts were seen this year. The Adobe survey noted that “discounts exceeded expectations.”
• Then there’s still inflation, which forced retailers to cut deep into the tags of high-priced items.

3. Black Friday itself

• Shoppers spent $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving, instead. That’s 8.8% above last year.

There you have it—the ups and downs of Black Friday 2024. However, we might see more statistics and trends in the next few days as retailers are still holding deals to prime for the holiday rush.

Don’t worry, we’ll be relaying them to you as soon as we have the deets. 😉

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BITES OF THE WEEK

• EU Toy Sales: 39% of European consumers have bought toys or games on Temu, Shein, and AliExpress this year.
• Japan’s Trust Issues: Amazon Japan is under fire for allegedly pressuring third-party sellers to lower prices.
• Singapore Wins: Amazon reported it invested more than S$2 billion across its Singapore-based businesses.

TACTIC TALKS

Go global in 2025 with these 6 simple steps

Have you ever imagined your products becoming must-haves on shopping lists worldwide?

Well, that dream doesn’t have to stay out of reach. Expanding globally in 2025 is your golden opportunity to tap into new markets and reach customers worldwide.

🌐 But before you dive in, there’s one crucial piece of the puzzle—mastering international SEO. Marketing4eCommerce got you covered with 6 simple yet powerful best practices.

• Choose the right URL setup. Decide how to organize your website for different countries. You can:
  • Use subdomains (e.g., es.yourstore.com)
  • Create subdirectories (e.g., yourstore.com/es/)
  • Go with country-specific domains (e.g., yourstore.es)
  • Tip: Make sure Google knows which country or language each version is for. 
• Find the right local keywords. What works in one country might not in another. Do some research to find the terms people actually search for in each market. 🔍
• Localize your content. Translation isn’t enough! Adapt your website content to suit local tastes. Make your offers, pricing, and images relatable and relevant to each audience.
• Use hreflang tags. Hreflang tags tell search engines which version of your site to show based on a user’s language or location. This helps avoid confusion and ensures people land on the right page.
• Optimize for mobile and speed. Most global shoppers are browsing on their phones. Make sure your site looks great on mobile and loads quickly, especially in areas with slower Internet.
• Track, adjust, repeat. International SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” deal. Use tools to monitor rankings, refine keywords, and outpace the competition. 🔂

⌛ Time to go global

Expanding internationally might feel like a big challenge—because it is. But with these SEO tips, you’re already halfway there.

The world is waiting to discover what you have to offer, so take it one step at a time.