Black Friday 2020 made history with online sales rising to a new record level. Amazon, for example, reported a 60% increase in sales compared to the previous year.
We’ve analysed which UK domains rank highest for Black Friday deals in the electronics, beauty and fashion sectors on Google.co.uk and also share best practices for the next online shopping booms.
Records Set: 60% Increase in Sales for Amazon
In the midst of the corona pandemic and apprehension around in-store Christmas shopping, record sales and revenue during Black Friday 2020 are not surprising.
Amazon reported $4.8 billion in sales globally between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a 60% increase year-on-year. Note that staggering figure only includes Amazon vendor sales and not sales generated by Amazon’s own products.
General Black Friday Keywords: Top 10 Domains Ranking in Google UK
The chart below shows results for over 100 keywords around Black Friday offers such as: “ black friday 2020”, “best black friday deals” and “black friday sale”, “cyber week” or “cyber monday offers”
- Amazon leads followed closely by UK ecommerce websites. Our analysis shows Amazon as the clear leader for generic Black Friday keywords with 15.6% share of all Top 10 rankings on Google.co.uk. Large online stores are also well represented, including Argos, Debenhams and John Lewis.
- Publishers offering aggregated deals ranking in the Top 10 results. Finding Black Friday deals was clearly the user intent behind generic Google search queries around Black Friday offers. As a result, several publishers offering blog posts or live deal tickers were found in our Top 10 list. In addition, Radiotimes.com, The Telegraph, The Independent and TechRadar were able to achieve top rankings.
Black Friday Electronic Deals: Top 10 Domains Ranking in Google UK
The chart below shows results for over 300 keywords in the electronics sector, including:
Gaming: Keywords related to Black Friday offers for games and consoles such as Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.
Smartphones: Keywords around Black Friday deals for iPhones and smartphone deals related to various device types and manufacturers.
TVs: Keywords related to Black Friday offers from TV manufacturers such as LG or Samsung, plus current model names, searches for brands plus TV size in inches and brands plus TV features such as 4K, curved or OLED.
Tablets: Black Friday keywords related to offers for iPads and tablets from many different brands.
Speakers: Keywords related to deals around in-ear and over-ear headphones, such as noise cancelling and Bluetooth as well as specific products from brands such as Bose and Sony
- Three electronic brands were frequently found in Top 10 Ranking keywords: Nintendo, Samsung and Bose.
- Electronic and gaming stores, such as game.co.uk, held the most Top 10 positions (10.8% of keywords in Top 10).
- Currys as well as ecommerce stores such as Argos and John Lewis are found frequently in the Top 10 results.
- Publishers such as Techradar and Telegraph are also in our Top 10; these domains offer articles in which the best deals are listed and continuously updated.
- Amazon was found in fourth place in terms of market share with only 8% of keywords.
Black Friday in the Fashion Industry: Top 10 Domains Ranking in Google UK
The chart below shows the findings of around 600 keywords relating to clothing, shoes and sportswear with Black Friday references.
- Fashion: Keywords for Black Friday offers from fashion brands as well as generic search queries for deals on jackets, jumpers, dresses, trousers or underwear.
- Shoes: Keywords around “black friday shoes” are included in this category, as well as those for generic shoe categories and offers from shoe manufacturers.
- Sports: Keywords around Black Friday offers from Adidas, Nike and Puma as well as search queries for clothing offers for various sports.
- Three fashion brands rank in the Top 10: Nike, Adidas and NorthFace. Nike took the lead with a market share of around 20%.
- The sports outfitter JD Sports ranks comes in close second with a market share of almost 10%.
- Many footwear stores rank in the Top 10. Footlocker is found twice – once with their co.uk domain and once with their .com domain. The aggregated Footlocker share of all examined rankings on the first search results page is 7.6% market share.
- Amazon was found in fifth place with a 4.6% market share.
Black Friday for Beauty Products: Top 10 Domains Ranking in Google UK
The chart below is the result of more than 100 keywords relating to cosmetics and perfume-related keywords ranking in google.co.uk in combination with Black Friday related keywords.
- Cosmetics: Keywords where Black Friday deals for products such as moisturiser, eye cream, body lotion, make up, cream are searched for, often in combination with brands such as Nivea, Estée Lauder, L’Oreal.
- Fragrance: Keywords with a Black Friday reference to perfume products and manufacturers, such as Hugo Boss, Chanel or Dolce & Gabbana.
- Two brands ranked in Top 10 results – Estée Lauder (second place at 10.8%) and Chanel (fifth place at 5.8) boots.com 14.5%
- Many beauty and cosmetics stores rank in the Top 10, such as boots.com (14.5%) , Debenhams.com (7.4%) John Lewis ( 4.5%), superdrug.com (4.1%), and theperfumeshop.com (3.8%).
- Amazon is found in seventh place with 4.2% market share.
4 Black Friday 2021 Learnings
1. Amazon dominates the search results for generic Black Friday keywords at Google.co.uk. In individual sectors, however, specialised shops or publishers often outperform Amazon.
2. Brand websites share Top 10 positions with shopping platforms, specialist online shops and publishers. This is likely due to the fact that brands and smaller ecommerce stores offer a limited product portfolio with subsequently less Black Friday deals related to the limited range.
3. Publishers providing a collection of deals relating to many different products and brands performed strongly across all categories. Their approach to serve people searching for the best offers around Black Friday saw these kinds of websites appear frequently for Black Friday-related terms.
4. Missing this year are domains specifically created just for Black Friday, such as blackfridaydeals.com and similar domains. This may be partly due to the general decline in the importance of keyword heavy domains, but also to a lack of confidence-building content published on these websites which affects both users and their ability to rank well in Google.
Our Advice for 2021
Don’t wait until late 2021 to improve rankings. Preparing your website to rank well for Black Friday 2021 now may well be a very worthwhile investment. It goes without saying that the incredible rate of growth in sales and turnover seen this year speaks volumes.
Even if in November 2021 we find ourselves out of lockdown and able to venture beyond our home computers and smartphones to shop, we anticipate growth in online sales won’t slow down. The impact of lockdowns worldwide will further accelerate the growth of online shopping with Black Friday as one of several significant online shopping events of the year.