Orange is the New Black Friday

As stores begin offering their holiday deals earlier and earlier, the days when Black Friday officially launched the holiday shopping season are long gone. So when exactly will customers start tackling their holiday gift lists? In a word, now. This week—the week of Halloween—has replaced Black Friday as the event that kicks off the holiday shopping season.The time period between Halloween and Black Friday is key for capturing holiday shoppers Marketers’ early holiday campaigns are paying off, as the weeks between now and Black Friday have a substantial impact on overall holiday sales. In fact, 40% of last year’s total holiday sales occurred in the four weeks before Black Friday.

Black Friday is still a milestone, but the mid-season sales spike that you would expect to see around Black Friday and Cyber Monday continues to be less pronounced than in years past. Retailers need to persist with ongoing marketing campaigns to win shoppers continuously throughout the next nine weeks to maximize their holiday returns.For instance, almost replacing Black Friday in terms of importance, our data shows that nearly 30% of holiday sales occurred in just the two weeks leading up to Christmas. Beyond early holiday sales, there are plenty of opportunities to drive last-minute revenue.Actionable tip for gaining early season shoppers:Early-bird shoppers are ready to spend. Appeal to them with gift guides organized by recipient so they can easily start checking off their lists. Consider keeping them engaged with progressive deals throughout the season to drive repeat purchases.Want more Holiday insights? Check out more Cardlytics holiday spend trends and stay tuned for our next blog post on Friday, where we’ll dig deeper into thenumber one driver of holiday spend.