During the critical Black Friday/Cyber Monday holiday weekend, more shoppers took the opportunity to finance big-ticket purchases rather than paying up front or putting them on a credit card. Other key takeaways from the Bread holiday report included:
1. Shoppers waited later to capture holiday deals:
With retailers starting deals earlier and extending them through the holiday, shoppers had less incentive to rush to buy. Black Friday shoppers started early and ended late, with peak shopping volume between 10 and 11 pm ET. Cyber Monday shoppers peaked from 3 to 4 pm ET, with another spike from 9 to 11 pm ET.
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2. More shoppers engaged with financing before checkout:
More shoppers took advantage of the ability to pre-qualify for financing earlier in the buying process, before an item was even put in their carts. But the peak time buyers applied for financing on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday fell between 10 and 11 pm ET. The report revealed:
- 73.6% of shoppers applied for financing before checkout on Black Friday;
- 69.0% of shoppers applied for financing before checkout on Cyber Monday;
- 29.2% more shoppers applied for financing before checkout on Black Friday;
- 42.5% of Black Friday applicants were Millennials; and
- 43.3% of Cyber Monday applicants were Millennials.
3. Offering financing increased AOV:
Black Friday and Cyber Monday produced higher average order values (AOV) compared to a typical month in 2017. The average AOV on Cyber Monday was 19.1% higher than the average AOV in October 2017, while the Black Friday AOV increased 10.9%.
4. Consumers preferred longer-term financing options:
As credit card debt overwhelms shoppers, many are becoming more receptive to alternative financing options for larger-ticket items. On Cyber Monday, 90% of shoppers chose financing term lengths of 12 months or longer, with 46.6% of shoppers choosing term lengths of 24 months or longer. On Black Friday, 87.1% of shoppers chose term lengths of 12 months or longer with 48.3% of shoppers opting for term lengths of 24 months or longer.
5. More shoppers engaged on mobile, but converted on desktop:
While consumers are increasingly interacting with retailers on mobile devices throughout the season, when it comes to actually completing the purchase, the majority of shopping is still done on desktops for big-ticket items.
On Black Friday, 53.3% of financing pre-qualifications were on mobile, but only 38.6% of checkouts. Cyber Monday rates were lower, with 44.1% of pre-qualifications made on mobile, and only 34.8% of checkouts.
