We get asked about this a lot.
Are Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals a myth?
This has been asked and argued over a million times each year polarizing both consumers and retailers.
Each side is preparing for this season as they’d be preparing for a great battle. Retailers set up dynamic pricing according to IP, education, job, income, browsing history, and so on. While consumers clean up their browser cookies and sessions, checking prices from multiple comparison shopping engines, change devices, and most importantly save money to get the most bang for the buck.
Undeniably, both sides are getting smarter each year and come up with many tactics that weren’t done before. Although we cannot decipher every action from both sides, we can include our own perspective in this arena.
Our results are in for Black Friday and Cyber Monday which is intended to show you how retailers act before, during, and after the biggest sales campaigns of the year.
Overall Pricing Movements
Amazon
- On regular days Amazon had lower prices than the market average.
- Increased prices by 28% from 24-28/Nov.
- Decreased prices by 14% on 29/Nov.
- Net price increase of 14% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- On regular days eBay had the lowest prices than the market average.
- Increased prices by 33% from 24-28/Nov.
- Didn’t change prices after the price increase on neither BF nor CM.
Target
- Target followed what Amazon did before and after BF (ahem! competitive repricing) with a net price increase of 9%.
- Increased prices by 24% from 24-28/Nov.
- Decreased prices by 15% on 29/Nov.
- Net price increase of 9% for BF.
- Increased prices by 11% on 30/Nov.
- Decreased prices by 11% on 01/Dec.
- Made false discount for Cyber Monday.
Bestbuy
- Bestbuy had above-average prices than the market average.
- Increased prices by 3% from 24-28/Nov
- Decreased prices by 3% on 29/Nov.
- No net price change for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Walmart
- Walmart had above-average prices than the market average.
- Increased prices by 29% from 24-28/Nov.
- Decreased prices by 5% on 29/Nov.
- Net price increase by 24% for BF.
- Decreased prices by 18% on 03/Dec Giving Tuesday.
Overall Competitive Summary
While Amazon and Target partially followed each other in terms of pricing movements on certain dates, eBay followed them and had lower or higher prices than the two. Bestbuy and Walmart were competing on a different level in both having higher prices than the others. Among the 5, Walmart had the most unpredictable price changes on different dates than the rest.
Camera & Photo Category – Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 35% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 17% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 18% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 2% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 2% price decrease.
- No net price change for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Cell Phones & Accessories – Category Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 33% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 14% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 19% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 47% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 21% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 26% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Computers & Accessories – Category Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 25% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 10% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 15% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 45% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 4% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 41% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 10% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 9% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 1% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Electronics – Category Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 28% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 22% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 6% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 0% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 0% price decrease.
- No net price change for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 9% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 12% price decrease.
- Net price decrease of 3% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Video Games – Category Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 25% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 14% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 11% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 38% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 2% price increase.
- Net price increase of 40% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 24% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 16% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 8% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Bestbuy
- From 24-28/Nov 3% price decrease.
- On the 29th Nov 3% price decrease.
- Net price decrease of 6% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Walmart
- From 24-28/Nov 29% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 5% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 24% for BF.
- Decreased prices by 18% on 03/Dec Giving Tuesday.
2K Games – Brand Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 43% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 5% price increase.
- Net price increase of 48% for BF.
- On the 2nd Dec 7% price decrease.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 88% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 10% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 78% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 32% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 81% price decrease.
- Net price decrease of 49% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Bestbuy
- Gone out of stock for 2K Games specific to our research.
Microsoft – Brand Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 8% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 18% price decrease.
- Net price decrease of 10% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 53% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 9% price increase.
- Net price increase of 62% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 17% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 18% price decrease.
- Net price decrease of 1% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Nintendo – Brand Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 25% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 17% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 8% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 40% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 1% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 39% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 33% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 4% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 29% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Bestbuy
- Gone out of stock for Nintendo specific to our research.
Walmart
- From 24-28/Nov 29% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 5% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 24% for BF.
- Decreased prices by 19% on 03/Dec Giving Tuesday.
Playstation – Brand Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 39% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 28% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 11% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 28% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 1% price increase.
- Net price increase of 29% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 15% price decrease.
- On the 29th Nov 8% price increase.
- Net price decrease of 7% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Roku – Brand Results
Amazon
- From 24-28/Nov 60% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 26% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 34% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
eBay
- From 24-28/Nov 1% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 2% price decrease.
- Net price decrease of 1% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Target
- From 24-28/Nov 60% price increase.
- On the 29th Nov 41% price decrease.
- Net price increase of 19% for BF.
- No significant change for CM.
Were the deals a myth?
According to our methodology, category selection, product assortment, and thousands of price points, it seems so.*
It was a hard time collecting and analyzing these prices since prices change constantly, by large amounts, based on many factors.
If you’d like to conduct near real-time research, select your own competitors, and gain an advantage in specific on or off seasons give our 14-day free trial a shot.
* We have no affiliation with any company in the research and keep in mind that this data resembles a small part of the whole.
Thanks for sharing this useful information! Hope that you will continue with the kind of stuff you are doing.