Black Friday Sales are at an all Time High while Consumer Happiness is at an all Time Low

We’ve Never Spent More on Black Friday

An average Black Friday shopping cart size has never been larger. Source: NRF (2018).

According to the NRF, an average shopper in the US spent over $1,007 back in 2018. It is an all-time high within a period of 15 years even adjusted for inflation. Of that, people spent $637 on gifts, $215 on food, decorations, and flowers. Another $154 were used to take buy into the seasonal deals and promotions.

Brick & Mortar Stores Lure Shoppers into Physical Stores

In order to compete with Amazon, brick and mortar stores including BestBuy and Walmart offered some of the most popular items in their physical stores exclusively. Other tactics included organizing events, such as hiring a local artist who would create some Instagram-worthy in-store experience or organizing other events such as a Christmas tree decorating workshop led by a notable designer.

Black Friday Hiring Does Not Solve All the Issues with the Experience

In order to improve the shopping experience, managers tend to hire more seasonal workers. The NRF survey reported that stores would hire between 500,000 and 550,000 seasonal workers in 2017. However, that alone according to Ombea’s data, doesn’t solve all the issues.

According to Ombea’s data from multiple retail venues across the UK and the US, the extremely negative sentiment towards the shopping experience jumped sharply from 12% to 26% on Black Friday in 2018. Interestingly, the share of customers who were slightly dissatisfied or indifferent with the shopping experience remained almost the same.

Satisfaction Distribution Across the Same Sample of Stores on Black Friday 2019 (167,000 Responses)

While customers were pretty unhappy during the entire day, the absolute worst times to go shopping on Black Friday were around 2 PM and 5 PM in the afternoon. During these hours the share of extremely unhappy customers rose to 26% and a whopping 36% respectively.

On Black Friday Avoid Shopping Right After Lunch and After Normal Office Hours. These Were the Worst Times Registered by Ombea ExpressPods.

Ensuring Top-Notch Experience at Key Touchpoints Is the Answer

As can be seen from the Ombea Black Friday Experience BINGO card, the customer experience is destined to be ruined at more than one touchpoint during the customer’s trip to a physical store. While some unpleasant experiences are out of the retailer’s control, others, in fact, can be managed.

Based on the best practices from our existing customers. Ombea has come up with a [list of touchpoints](https://www.ombea.com/xm/solutions) that have a profound effect on overcall shoppers experience and yet can be effectively measured and managed.

Ombea ExpressPods Are Designed to Keep an Eye on CX at Key Touchpoints.