Black Friday is one of the most pivotal days of the entire year for brand marketers. Post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas, consumers are primed and ready to purchase. Whether you’re looking for a treat for yourself or to save on stocking fillers, it’s essential for brands to make themselves known during Black Friday to win consumers. 

This year, according to Adobe Analytics, a record $9.8 billion was spent online for Black Friday, up 7.5% year-over-year (YoY). Electronics, Smartwatches, TV, and audio equipment were popular purchases, and the most popular online sales were in categories including KidKraft playsets, Barbie Fashionista dolls, and Mini Brands Toys.

Adobe Analytics also found that mobile devices accounted for 54% of online sales, up 10.4% compared to last year, alongside this a PYMNTS survey of 2,691 consumers discovered that 7 out of 10 shoppers acknowledge the significant influence of advertisements, influencers, and media on their purchasing decisions during Black Friday.

The power of Influencer Marketing prevails once again. 

The chart-toppers

Activewear giant, Gymshark, famously only holds two sales a year, one being on Black Friday. The novelty of the sale is what makes their consumers so excited, as there is an heir of exclusivity behind their discounted purchase that will leave them feeling set to focus on fitness come January. 

This year, Gymshark took part in their 11th Black Friday and their website and app experienced a crazy amount of traffic, and they reached the number one spot in the Apple app store 'Top Charts'. 

The brand has built a reputation for working with influencer ambassadors to grow the brand to what it is today. With creators like Molly Mae and James and Fuhad from the Shxtsngigs waving the flag for the Gymshark Black Friday sale, much of the brand success during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday event can be attributed to the power of influencers.

This year was also the first year that brands on TikTok Shop were present in the Black Friday chaos, meaning there was an even greater opportunity to reach audiences they hadn’t hit previously. After all, it’s far more likely that consumers will be scrolling through social media each day compared to retail sites like Amazon, so the likelihood of them purchasing through social commerce is much higher.  

Storytelling drives sales

Despite TikTok’s prominence in this year’s Black Friday sales, brands shouldn’t sleep on the power of the OG creator platform, YouTube, for serving and promoting unmissable deals. 

With our long-term, always-on partner Surfshark, YouTube is our go-to creator platform for storytelling content that seamlessly integrates the promotion of the VPN service. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, we worked with over 100 creators that have previously partnered with Surfshark, some of these relationships go back as far as 2020. Creator content focussed on promoting Surfshark’s new, better discount (up to 6 months additional months free).

Check out some of the creator content that went live over the weekend: 

Daniel J Layton recreated Ross from Friends' iconic Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich and shared how Surfshark allows him to stream Friends in the UK. 

Vanvu (What the Pho) created a video sharing tips on how to avoid getting scammed when traveling Vietnam and spoke about how she has been using Surfshark for 2 years to change her IP address in Vietnam when using unprotected public wifi networks. 

Content is still going live to promote Surfshark’s extended Cyber Monday sale, and soon we will be able to share the much-anticipated results… 

In the aftermath of Black Friday 2023, the success of influencers highlights their ongoing impact in the constantly changing world of online shopping. As brands keep tapping into these trustworthy partnerships, influencers continue to play a crucial role in effective marketing strategies. 

If you want to learn more about how to drive sales through Influencer Marketing, reach out to us at hello@digitalvoices.com.