As online retailers are witnessed strong Black Friday results, Google is reporting that there was a surge in online shopping searches with “Black Friday” on Thanksgiving day and the Friday after the holiday. Searches with the term “Black Friday” were up by more than 20%, year over year, according to Google. Searches for “black friday sales” and “black friday ads” were both up by more than 50%, year over year.
This data indicates that consumers match deals around this time of the year with Black Friday and that these deals are increasingly displayed online versus on TV or in newspapers. The most fast growing store-specific search terms were “Walmart Black Friday”, “Kohls Black Friday Ad”, “Sears Black Friday Sales” and “Target Black Friday Deals Online.”
Searches for “printable coupons” on Thanksgiving and Black Friday were up about 50% over last year and searches for “sales” were up by more than 25%. Google also released a few interesting data points about consumer interest in specific verticals. Searches in the apparel and toys categories rose about 50% and searches in the consumer electronics category more than tripled over last year, with “Black Friday Computer Deals” and “Best Buy Black Friday Deals” also topping the fastest growing search terms during the holiday period.
It should be interesting to see how Cyber Monday fares in Google Search.