Study: Cyber Monday lacks luster globally

11/29/2017
While consumers globally anticipate Black Friday, the Cyber Monday frenzy is primarily a North American shopping event.

Black Friday enjoys a double-digit popularity percentage in six countries outside the United States, but Cyber Monday tops out at only 4% outside of North America, according to a survey conducted this month by online translation agency One Hour Translation. The study was conducted across the United States, Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Australia and Japan.

Outside of the United States, Black Friday is particularly popular in Canada (about 26%), Spain (about 22%), France (about 21%). The U.K. and Germany (about 19% each) and to a lesser extent in Australia and Japan (about 10% in each country).

On average, among the eight countries sampled in the survey, 17% of respondents were looking forward to Black Friday. This was compared to about 8% who were looking forward to Cyber Monday, and about 3% who were looking forward to Singles Day event (the Chinese holiday celebrating single people) — making Black Friday a significant shopping event outside the U.S., the study said.

Cyber Monday however, enjoyed a double-digit popularity percentage only in North America, as 16% of U.S. respondents said they were waiting for Cyber Monday, along with 10% of respondents in Canada. This figures eclipsed interest in the U.K. (about 4%), as well as Australia, Germany, Spain, France and Japan (about 3%).

The Chinese “Singles Day” shopping event, which takes place every year on November 11, was highly anticipated among 7.5% of respondents in Japan. It was only anticipated by approximately 6% of shoppers in Spain and France, 4% in Canada, 3% in Germany, 2% in Britain and Australia, and only 1.4% in the U.S.

"This year, Black Friday is once again the most popular shopping event among consumers,” said Ofer Shoshan, co-founder and CEO of One Hour Translation. “However, looking at the figures, we can see a major difference in the levels of anticipation for the Cyber Monday shopping event, which is popular in North America — the United States and Canada — as opposed to the anticipation it enjoys in the major economies outside of North America. Based on our extensive work with thousands of e-commerce companies, we would encourage companies outside of North America in this particular field to invest in associating their activity and their brand with the Cyber Monday event."
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