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Black Friday and Cyber Monday Report: Nordstrom and Walmart see Strong YoY Growth, but Amazon Still Rules the Roost in 2019

Nordstrom saw greatest year-over-year (YoY) online spend growth over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, up 60%.

Key Takeaways

• Walmart, Best Buy, Etsy, Kohl’s, and Macy’s also saw gains in YoY market share during Cyber Week 2019.

• Best Buy was the winner in average online order value, up an average of $18 per order for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and up $48 for the weekend and Cyber Monday.

It’s not just you, holiday sales really did start earlier this year. With Thanksgiving later in the year than usual, many retailers like Target and Walmart a hosted pre-Black Friday sales. But if there were any worries that these early sales would make a dent in Cyber Week, those worries were unfounded. Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Thanksgiving weekend, and Cyber Monday 2019 drew in record breaking numbers. To see the breakdown of these sales at some of the largest retailers, Edison Trends analyzed over 300,000 transactions from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.

Are Black Friday shoppers spending more or less than last year?

Figure 1a: Chart shows estimated change in year-over-year online spend during Thanksgiving and Black Friday, comparing November 28 - 29, 2019 to November 22 - 23, 2018, according to Edison Trends. This analysis is based on over 300,000 transactions.


When looking at 10 stores well-known for their annual Black Friday sales, year-over-year (YoY) online spend saw more gains than losses in 2019. Nordstrom showed the biggest YoY increase in customer spending this Thanksgiving and Black Friday with an astounding 60% growth in online sales. Walmart followed next in highest growth with 53%, then Amazon with 49%. Etsy, Kohl's, and Best Buy experienced gains of 21%, 11%, and 7% respectively, while Macy's remained about the same. Not every store made gains however; Target fell 12% J.C. Penney 14%, and eBay 17%.

Figure 1b: Chart shows estimated change in year-over-year online spend during the weekend and Cyber Monday, comparing November 30 - December 2, 2019 to November 24 - 26, 2018, according to Edison Trends. This analysis was based on over 500,000 transactions.


Our Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday data tells a different story from Thanksgiving and Black Friday online sales. Amazon, rather than Nordstrom or Walmart, showed the biggest gain with a 43% increase in customer spending between Saturday and Cyber Monday compared to last year. Nordstrom was in second place with 41% growth, then Walmart close behind with a 40% gain. Best Buy (36%), Etsy (30%), Kohl's (23%), and Macy's (17%) also had solid online growth during this time period. The retailers that experienced the least amount of change were Target with a slight gain of 3%, and J.C. Penney with a drop of 1%. eBay, on the other hand, experienced the deepest dip with a drop of 17% from last year.

Figure 1c: Chart shows estimated year-over-year changes in average online order value during Thanksgiving and Black Friday, comparing November 28 - 29, 2019 to November 22 - 23, 2018, according to Edison Trends.


Best Buy had the highest increase in the average amount customers spent per order, taking in an average of $18 more per order than last year over Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Nordstrom was a close second at $17, then Walmart at $11 and Amazon at $4. Etsy, Kohl's, eBay and Macy's were close to the same as last year, falling between $1 and $3 below their performance the year prior. Target and J.C. Penney, on the other hand, saw their figures fall an average of $16 from 2018 to 2019.

Figure 1d: Chart shows estimated year-over-year changes in average online order value during Thanksgiving and Black Friday, comparing November 30 - December 2, 2019 to November 24 - 26, 2018, according to Edison Trends.


During Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday, Best Buy again had the highest increase in average amount customers spent per online order. They took in an average of $48 more per order than last year. Nordstrom was a distant second with $16 more this year, then Macy's at $5 more. Several merchants showed little change, while eBay's average customer spend per order dropped $6 and J.C. Penney's $21.

How has market share shifted among these companies?

Figure 2a: Chart shows estimated market share of online spend during Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2018, according to Edison Trends.


Figure 2b: Chart shows estimated market share of online spend during Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2019, according to Edison Trends.


Amazon's piece of the pie just keeps on growing. Last year over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, they had a 38% share of the dollars customers spent on the 10 merchants shown here; this year, it was 45%. Walmart had a gain of 3 percentage points, to 17% share. Target dropped 3 percentage points to a 6% share. Best Buy and eBay had slight drops (both down by 2%), while the other brands’ share remained about the same.

Figure 2c: Chart shows estimated market share of online spend during the weekend after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday 2018, according to Edison Trends


Figure 2d: Chart shows estimated market share of online spend during the weekend after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday 2019, according to Edison Trends.


Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday show a similar Amazon growth story. Last year, they had a 52% share of the dollars customers spent on the 10 merchants shown here; this year, it was 56%. Most other merchants remained the same or fell slightly, with eBay taking the largest drop from 7% to 5%.

As the market evolves, we will continue to stay on top of the latest trends. To learn more about how Edison Trends can help your business, contact us at bizdev@edison.tech. For more up-to-date insights in the e-commerce space, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter at @EdisonTrends.

*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.

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