Thanksgiving Shopping Breaks Records + Industry News and Insights
Field Tips is a biweekly email series bringing you the latest marketing trends and topics directly to your inbox. Covering everything from digital marketing and social media to content strategy and more, we curate the industry’s top stories and present them as easily digestible insights. The content contained within this post comes directly from our December 6, 2024 issue. If you’d like to receive Field Tips, subscribe here.
With the first week back from Thanksgiving under our (slightly tighter) belts, I hope yours was filled with good food, great company—and maybe some awesome deals too!
The holiday shopping season is officially in full swing, and the early online numbers are in. Shoppers showed up in force this Thanksgiving weekend, setting new records and underscoring key trends shaping today’s digital economy.
Here are the highlights:
- Cyber Monday Leads the Way: Online spending hit $13.3 billion, a 7.3% increase from last year, maintaining its title as the biggest shopping day of the year.
- Thanksgiving & Black Friday Shine: Thanksgiving Day sales climbed to $6.1 billion (+8.8%), while Black Friday soared to $10.8 billion (+10.2%).
- Mobile Shopping Soars: Mobile accounted for 57% of Cyber Monday’s sales, up 13.3% year-over-year—a testament to shoppers’ on-the-go convenience preferences.
- Buy Now, Pay Later Gains Momentum: BNPL spending reached $991.2 million, a 5.5% rise from 2022, with 75% of transactions happening on mobile.
- Category Growth: Toys saw a massive 680% sales boost, followed by appliances (+464%), electronics (+452%), and apparel (+392%) compared to a typical October day.
Consumers are spending big, but they’re also looking for convenience, flexibility, and value. With the surge in mobile shopping, BNPL options and social influencers driving conversions, the digital shopping landscape continues to evolve—and your strategy should too.
Ready to make 2025 your most successful holiday season yet? Let’s start planning now. Just reply to this email or connect with your Responsory team to get the ball rolling.
Google Search Console Just Got Smarter
WHAT’S HAPPENING. Google has fully rolled out its Recommendations feature in Google Search Console, initially introduced as a test in August. This tool offers website owners personalized advice to optimize their site’s presence on Google Search, covering areas like crawling, indexing, and content visibility. The suggestions are updated regularly but appear only if Google identifies specific opportunities for your site.
WHY IT MATTERS. This is great for in-house teams who want to dip their toes into SEO. The Recommendations feature simplifies action steps for improving search performance, making optimization more accessible, especially for non-experts. While not every tip will be relevant, the insights can help fine-tune your strategy and keep your site competitive in search rankings.
Will Bluesky’s No-Ad Mission Ground Its Potential?
WHAT’S HAPPENING. Bluesky, the Twitter alternative everyone’s buzzing about, is hitting some turbulence as it tries to scale up. With 20 million users, it’s hiring more moderators, navigating EU regulations and promising features like user-controlled moderation—but all of this costs money. They’ve raised $23 million so far, but running an ad-free platform means Bluesky has to rely on ideas like subscriptions and paid handles to stay afloat. Meanwhile, rivals like Meta and X have way more cash to burn, putting Bluesky in a tricky spot.
WHY IT MATTERS. This is a big moment for Bluesky—and for marketers eyeing new platforms. Its unique, decentralized approach could appeal to people tired of Big Tech, but without a solid revenue model, it might not last. If Bluesky figures out how to grow while staying true to its mission, it could become a legit player in the social media world. But if it crashes, marketers might hesitate to invest in the next “Twitter alternative” that pops up. For now, it’s a wait-and-see game.
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New analysis of 332M Google searches reveals insights into user intent, from brand vs. generic searches to navigational and transactional behavior—perfect for refining SEO strategies. Get the full breakdown on SparkToro.
The Rise Of Micro-Communities: What This Means For Social Media Marketers
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About the Author
A prominent marketing strategist and nationally recognized thought leader, Grant A. Johnson is president and CEO of Responsory. He is a sought-after public speaker, direct marketing trainer, copywriter, award-winning author and the creator of Direct Branding℠, Responsory’s method for producing sure-fire measurable results.
