New Shopping Records: Black Friday and Cyber Monday If you are reading this, congratulations. It means you survived the busiest shopping days of the season: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And, busy

New Shopping Records: Black Friday and Cyber Monday

If you are reading this, congratulations. It means you survived the busiest shopping days of the season: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And, busy is an understatement. Shoppers took to the stores and online in masses, scoping up deals and getting started on holiday shopping for loved ones (and their selves).

The numbers are nearly as staggering. According to Adobe Analytics:

• Shopping dollars from Nov. 1 – 26 totaled $58.52 billion
• Black Friday accounted for a record-making $7.9 billion, including $6.22 billion spent online
• Top products included Fingerlings, L.O.L. Surprise, Nintendo Switch, Laptops from Dell & Apple, LG TVs, drones, and Amazon Echo
• Sales traffic vs. revenue by device type:
  • Desktop: 42% traffic for 61% of purchases
  • Smartphones: 49% of traffic for 30% of purchases
  • Tablets: 8% of traffic for 9% of purchases
• Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) increased 50% from last year
• Cyber Monday sales reached $7.9 billion, the largest single shopping day in the U.S.
• Sales from smartphones also hit an all-time high of $2 billion

Assignment Directions:

1. Review the data and charts from Adobe site: http://exploreadobe.com/retail-shopping-insights/ (Links to an external site.)

2. Read the following CNBC Article: Black Friday Sales (Links to an external site.)

3. Watch the following YouTube video: 

Assignment Questions:

1. Describe some of the things you purchased. Were each of the items gifts for others or personal purchases? If you did not make any purchases on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, explain why you decided not to make any purchases on either of these days.
2. Did you shop in stores, online, or both? Where did you make the majority of your purchases (in stores or online)? Why?
3. Given the results from holiday shopping, what are three things that retailers must do to continue to meet customer needs?

The responses to each of the questions above should be in separate paragraphs. The paper should be at least one full page (double-spaced).