Black Friday, data concerns, online sales: 5 killer stats to start your week

One in four shoppers planning to make a purchase on Black Friday

More than a quarter (26%) of consumers are planning to make a purchase during Black Friday, up from 21% in 2018 and 19% in 2017.

Almost one in five (19%) said they would be encouraged to spend more because Black Friday falls after pay day, while 28% said they plan to do some Christmas shopping – higher than in previous years.

Of those that are planning to buy, 78% said they had intentionally delayed spend. However, 54% said they expect so spend less than last year and only 8% expect the deals to be better.

Source: Retail Economics/Klarna

Consumers think data collection risks outweigh benefits

The majority (77%) of US adults have heard something about how companies use their personal data and most (81%) think the risks outweigh the benefits.

Almost four in five (79%) are at least somewhat concerned about how much data is collected about them by companies, while seven in 10 feel their personal information is less secure than it was five years ago. Some 62% believe it is impossible to go through daily life without having their data collected by companies.

The survey of 4,272 US adults found that just 6% claim to understand a great deal about what is being done with their data, while 59% understood very little or nothing.

This means they see few personal benefits to data collection. Just 5% of adults say they benefit ‘a great deal’ from data collection, while 23% felt ‘some benefit’. However, 49% feel ‘very little’ benefit and 23% feel ‘none’.

Source: Pew Research Center

Online retail sales rebound in October

Online retail sales rebounded in October, increasing by 6.2% year on year. That is above average for this year, with the three-month, six-month and 12-month rolling averages coming in at 5%, 4.5% and 5.1%.

However, this is still the lowest growth ever for online sales in October. And for the year, growth so far is just 5%, compared to 12% at this point in 2018.

Online only retailers experienced the strongest growth, up 12.4%, while sales at multichannel retailers were up 4.3%. Mobile commerce was up 15.2%, with smartphone sales rising 50.8% and tablet sales down 8.6%.

Source: IMRG Capgemini 

Monzo the most recommended brand by UK consumers

Digital bank Monzo has the strongest brand advocates of any brand, topping a list of the most recommended brand among Britons with a score of 84.8.

Online money transfer service Transferwise came second on 76.8, followed by phone maker One Plus (74.8), consumer finance website MoneySavingExpert.com (74.6) and green energy company Bulb (74.4). The brand advocacy rankings ask past and present customers of more than 1,500 companies if they’d recommend them to family, friends and colleagues.

This year’s rankings are led by finance and fintech brands. Travel brands also perform well, with Universal Studios Orlando scoring 71.3 and Secret Escapes 70.8.

The most improved brand was Celebrity Cruises with an 8.8 improvement in score, followed by Southern Trains, which increased eight points, and Travel Republic (up 7.8).

Source: YouGov BrandIndex

Programmatic ad spend growth slows as concerns mount over privacy

Programmatic ad spend growth is predicted to slow to 22% this year, down from 35% in 2018 as concerns grow around privacy, data collection and supply chain issues.

In the UK, 87% of digital media spend is trading programmatically, equal to around £5bn. In the US, 82% of is programmatic but it is the world’s biggest by value with spend of $67bn (£52bn)

The slowdown comes in part because the market is reach maturity, making growth harder to come by. But challenges from GDPR as well as questions over the transparency of the supply side are also behind slowing growth.

Source: Zenith Optimedia