Make it Big Podcast: Unwrapping 2022 Cyber Week Insights

Welcome to The Make it Big Podcast, a bi-weekly audio series about all things ecommerce by BigCommerce.

With Cyber Week behind us and the rest of the 2022 holiday season still ahead, we’re unwrapping exclusive insights from BigCommerce’s recent 2022 Cyber Week Trends Report to carry you into the new year.

The results are in: BigCommerce merchants saw record-breaking 2022 Cyber Week sales. 

Experts from BigCommerce sat down for a live recording to break down insights from the biggest shopping season of the year with a look into stand-out trends, how and what consumers were buying and how merchants not only weathered the economic storm — but excelled — this Cyber Week.

Read on for a recap of the key takeaways from this year’s top Cyber Week shopping trends.

All episodes of The Make it Big Podcast are available on Spotify, Apple and Google.

The Make it Big Podcast: Cyber Week 2022

Melissa Dixon: Tell us about some of the highlights that we saw.

Pablo Gallaga: “Thanksgiving hit record sales, and that was after predictions that it would actually have a slowdown and decline for the first time, I believe, since 2015. That did not happen [this] Thanksgiving, which is actually the smallest of the Cyber Five days. So that’s record numbers there.

“Saturday and Sunday were huge. But of course, you know, the big players are going to be Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

MD: Everyone’s always asking every year, “Does Cyber Week still matter? Are those particular days still as impactful?” because we see the shopping season start to stretch out and start earlier every year.

Meghan Stabler: “It has been stretching out earlier in the year for a couple of years now, right? Really that trend started a while ago. 

“But I want to go back to something I think we tend to miss: the human element. That we as humans want to feel good and a good way to feel good is to buy something new, right?…

“The convenience of ecommerce, the convenience of finding that discount for the product that you want in the size that you want or the style that you want or the color that you want and having it arrive on your doorstep in a period of time that you feel confident in is something that we all want naturally… so I don’t think we are going to lose it. 

“I think we’re still going to see it, but consumers are going to expect that there are deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They may blur the lines for a couple of days, but those expectations are definitely going to be there.”

PG: “If you were to stack the days, the five Cyber Week days would [rank] Thanksgiving, Sunday, Saturday, Black Friday, Cyber Monday in terms of overall sales.  

“That’s the trend people expect, for Thanksgiving to be the smaller of the days. But there was so much growth on those days — surprisingly more growth than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, although they were smaller days overall.”

MD: What were some of the other trends that we saw as far as where and how consumers were shopping?

PG: “As far as where? Marketplaces. You think [of] Amazon — everybody’s checking those deals because those are big deals. 

“Device-wise, you’re looking at an even split between mobile and desktop still. I think people like the comfort of getting a full website experience when they’re doing their [Cyber Week] shopping. Maybe they get more than what they’re seeing on mobile. 

“Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) was the big one for me. We were tracking that as early as October. Year-over-year (YoY) in October there was an 8% uptick in usage of Buy Now, Pay Later, which we thought would carry over into Cyber Week in that small uptick sort of way. No, it exploded.” 

“There was a 25% increase in [BNPL] usage during Cyber Week. Sales were up 33% using buy now, pay later — which that’s huge. That’s consumer behavior right there. That’s an expectation you can have for next year.”

MD: Meghan, what’s your advice to retailers and merchants about taking into account where and how people shop? 

MS: “Part of it is making sure that your product data, your product listings and your variance in your information are absolutely optimized for the channels and marketplaces you’re selling through. [We had] the acquisition two years ago of Feedonomics, which allows that…

“That tends to be a manual effort sometimes by people… so using AI capabilities is important for merchants to think about. I have my products, I have my variance, I have a bunch of channels or marketplaces I want to sell through. Use technology to make sure you’re maximizing the visibility of said products on those channels for consumers.

“We’re going to shop everywhere, right? You mentioned mobile devices. It’s sort of a 50/50 split… and yes, there are some other options out there as well. I shop on my mobile device consistently. I shop through Instagram, which is integrated obviously into the BigCommerce platform, and I shop directly on some of the other platforms.

“I do it because of [convenience], right? So it is really important for merchants and retailers out there to think about your persona of shoppers and consumers. How do they like to buy? How do they like to search?

“Then for Buy Now, Pay Later, what are the payment options that they want to have?… So it is really looking at the conveniences you mentioned and making sure that you have either payment options or at least the ability for your consumers to find your product on whatever channels they may be surfing on.”

The Final Word

Explore our full 2022 Cyber Week Trends Report for a deeper dive into each of the trends discussed, and be sure to also check out more episodes of The Make it Big Podcast on Spotify, Apple and Google.