Christmas is one of the most important periods for retailers, whether online or on the high street. So it’s understandable that what we previously considered to be strictly an American sales event, the weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, has been transported across the pond. 

These sales offer retailers an opportunity to really kick their pre-Christmas marketing activities into high gear and if you look a little deeper the conditions are perfect, with payday just before and December looming around the corner to remind shoppers Christmas really isn’t far away.  

The plethora of January closures on the UK’s high streets have shown just how important the Christmas quarter is, it really can make or break a business.  

But there is some good news on the horizon, as online retailers may have already been on track for a record Christmas period even before ‘Cyber Weekend’ arrived, with daily online spending and retail traffic already up year-on-year.  

Our research also shows that ‘Cyber Weekend’, while important, shouldn’t be the sole focus of retailers’ activity this Christmas.  

According to our data, last year the four days of shopping saw a 20% rise in the money spent online, compared to the previous two weeks. More importantly, last year’s figures show that ‘Cyber Weekend’ sales and media attention actually sparked a continued rise in shopping for the following two weeks. 

Our figures show that this equated to a 28% increase in daily spend for the fortnight after Cyber Monday, compared to pre-Black Friday shopping.  

With online spending already up year-on-year and daily online spending over the recent ‘Cyber Weekend’ increasing by 31%, we expect the trend for increased sales throughout the first two weeks of December to continue. 

This highlights the need for retailers to look beyond the ‘Cyber Weekend’, as there is an even greater opportunity to sell to consumers beyond this weekend alone. 

In order to make the most of the gifting season, retailers must continue to offer great deals throughout the run-up to Christmas and not just for one weekend. 

The retailers that are already doing this may not achieve the huge spike in sales over the ‘Cyber Weekend’, but by not putting all their presents under one tree these retailers are giving themselves the best chance of success over the entire Christmas quarter.