The DataWeave Blog

Tag: Sale Event Reports

Our proprietary data aggregation and analysis platform affords us the ability to capture unique insights on the pricing and product strategies of retailers and consumers brands during sale events. View our latest reports on sale events from around the world.

India’s Black Friday 2025 Decoded: Discount Analysis and Brand Performance Across Major E-commerce Platforms
Black Friday has evolved from a purely Western retail phenomenon into a global shopping event. India is no exception. While the country celebrates its own mega sale events like the Great Indian Festival and Big Billion Days, Black Friday has carved out its own space in the Indian retail calendar. E-commerce in India is expected to reach $325 billion by 2030, with festive shopping seasons driving significant portions of that growth.

So how did Indian retailers and brands navigate Black Friday 2025? At DataWeave, we analyzed pricing trends across four major categories: Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty, and Apparel. Our AI-powered retail intelligence platform tracked nearly 128,000 SKUs across leading platforms including Amazon India, Flipkart, Myntra, and others, revealing how the Indian market approached discounting and brand visibility during this high-stakes shopping period.

Our Methodology

DataWeave monitored average discount percentages across major Indian e-commerce platforms during two distinct periods:
- Pre-Black Friday: Up to November 23, 2025 – capturing early promotional activity and baseline pricing
- Black Friday Week: November 24 – December 1,2025 – spanning Thanksgiving week through Black Friday (November 28) and Cyber Monday (December 1)
We analyzed top-ranked products across subcategories on major retail sites, alongside Share of Search data, a metric that measures brand visibility by tracking which brand names appear in the top 20 search results for high-intent keywords.

Here’s a quick look at the overall discounts this Black Friday in India:

Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics remain a cornerstone of Black Friday shopping in India, with smartphones and laptops driving significant online sales. Our analysis of 20,439 SKUs reveals distinctive discount patterns across subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

The category averaged 23.2% pre-Black Friday discounts with an additional 0.5% during Black Friday Week. Drones and TVs led pre-sale discounting at 47.1% and 45.2% respectively, suggesting retailers wanted to clear high-ticket inventory ahead of the main event. Tablets (25.2%) also saw aggressive pre-sale pricing. During Black Friday Week, Earbuds saw the most substantial additional discounts at 1.1%, while categories like Laptops and Smartphones, already heavily discounted, had minimal incremental price cuts at 0.2%.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

The most notable is Cofendy, electronics accessories and speaker brand, that saw the share of search rise from 1.4% pre Black Friday to 8.2% during the event. Realme followed with a solid 2.3% gain, reinforcing its position as a rising smartphone brand. Smart gadget brand Hammer also saw visibility increase by 1.4% at par with OnePlus, Fastrack, HP and Asus.

Samsung saw the highest brand visibility with share of search at 9.6% pre-event and 9.5% during Black Friday week, despite seeing a small drop in visibility. Audio brand Boat saw a visibility drop by 0.8%, while Xiaomi saw the share of search drop by 0.1%. This shift suggests that Indian consumers were drawn to newer brands and compelling deals across computing and mobile devices during the sale period.

Health & Beauty

The Indian beauty and personal care market is experiencing rapid growth, expected to reach $30 billion by 2027. Black Friday has become an important sales window for beauty brands and retailers. Our analysis of 19,854 SKUs reveals distinct patterns.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

The category averaged 17% pre-Black Friday discounts with an additional 0.4% during Black Friday Week. Beard Care led early discounting at 21.3%, reflecting strong pre-sale positioning in men’s grooming. Conditioner (17.2%), Makeup (16.9%), and Moisturizer (16.9%) also saw solid baseline promotions. During Black Friday Week, Makeup and Sunscreen saw the highest additional discounts at 0.5% each, while Electric Toothbrush and Toothpaste maintained modest incremental discounts at 0.2%.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Affordable and emerging beauty brands dominated during Black Friday in India. Kellsie (beauty tools brand) surged from 1.6% to 6.5%. Classic mass-market brands like Pond’s (+3.4%) and Parachute Advanced (+2.8%) also performed strongly, alongside men’s grooming favorite Beardo (+1.6%). Other popular brands like Maybelline, Tresemme, Vaseline, all saw share of search and visibility increase during Black Friday.

Skincare brand Minimalist made a notable entry, jumping from 0% to 2.0% visibility. The flip side? Premium international brand L’Oréal Paris dropped from 8.3% to 6.5%, losing visibility during Black Friday.

Apparel

Our analysis of 57,537 SKUs reveals interesting discount dynamics.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

The category averaged 14.3% pre-Black Friday discounts with an additional 0.1% during Black Friday Week. Men’s Swimwear and Men’s Athleisure led pre-sale promotions at 22.2% and 18.5% respectively, while Women’s Swimwear and Women’s Shoes also saw strong pre event discounts at 19.3% and 17.6%.

Black Friday Week saw minimal incremental discounting across all subcategories, with most adding just 0.1-0.3%. The relatively subdued incremental discounting indicates that early birds captured the best deals, or that margins were already stretched from pre-sale promotions.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Pepe Jeans dominated visibility, surging from 7.4% to 24.6%, a staggering gain that represents the largest visibility increase across all categories. Jockey also performed strongly with a 6% gain, solidifying its position in innerwear.

On the flip side, athletic and footwear stalwarts faced headwinds: Speedo dropped 1.4% and Bata fell 1.1%. This data suggests that during Black Friday 2025 in India, denim and lifestyle fashion brands invested heavily in promotional visibility, capturing massive mindshare at the expense of traditional athletic and footwear brands.

For brands and retailers navigating India’s increasingly competitive e-commerce landscape, the 2025 Black Friday data reveals a critical insight: pre-sale positioning matters more than Black Friday Week discounting. Early promotional investment and visibility campaigns delivered far greater returns than late-stage price drops, fundamentally reshaping how brands should approach this shopping event.

Want to understand how DataWeave’s retail intelligence platform can help your business make data-driven decisions during peak sales events? Contact us to learn more about competitive insights, price intelligence, assortment analytics, content analytics, and digital shelf analytics.

Check out our analysis on Black Friday 2025 Pricing and Discount trends in the USA, Canada, UK, and Germany. Follow our blog for more insights on retail pricing trends, brand visibility analysis, and data-driven commerce intelligence.
December 19, 2025
Black Friday 2025 Germany: Full Analysis of Discount Trends and Brand Search Visibility Across Key Categories
Black Friday 2025 solidified its position as a major retail event in the German market. German consumers demonstrated an average Black Friday budget of €317, the highest among select European countries.

The German market, however, exhibited unique consumer behavior patterns during Black Friday 2025. Rather than meticulous planning, 59% of German shoppers allowed deals to inspire their purchases, compared to just 32% who shopped with predetermined lists and budgets. This spontaneous yet budget-conscious approach distinguishes German consumers from other markets, where FOMO-driven purchasing tends to dominate.

Against this backdrop of rational deal-seeking and regional diversity, how did retailers and brands perform across key categories this Black Friday?

At DataWeave, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of Black Friday 2025 discounting trends across five major categories in the German market: Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty, Grocery, and Apparel. Our AI-powered pricing intelligence platform monitored over 16,000+ SKUs across leading German retailers like Amazon, Aldi, Douglas, Nutritienda, Carethy, Bofrost, and more, revealing fascinating patterns in how retailers and brands approached this year’s sale season.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, DataWeave monitored average discounts across leading German retailers during two distinct periods:
- Pre-Black Friday: November 6 – November 23, 2025 – capturing early holiday deals and baseline pricing
- Additional Discounts During Black Friday Week: November 24 – December 1, 2025 – covering Thanksgiving week through Black Friday (November 28) and Cyber Monday (December 1)
Our sample encompassed the top-ranked products across subcategories on major retail sites. We also analyzed Share of Search data, which measures brand visibility by monitoring which brand names appear in the top 20 search results for critical keywords.

Black Friday 2025 Germany: The Big Picture

Our analysis covered 16,653 SKUs across five major categories. Here’s the snapshot of average discounts during the Pre-Black Friday period compared to Black Friday Week:

Key Insight: The German market presented a notably different discounting pattern compared to other markets. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 7% across all categories, with Black Friday Week adding 5.1% on average. Unlike the UK and US markets where retailers front-loaded promotions heavily, German retailers took a more balanced approach, with several categories actually seeing higher discounts during the main Black Friday Week.

Beauty led pre-sale discounts at 10%, followed by Electronics at 9.3%. Consumer electronics stood out with the highest Black Friday Week discounts at 9.4%, slightly exceeding even the pre-sale period at 9.3%.

Shopping Behavior Patterns: The relatively modest discount levels reflect the rational, value-oriented approach of German consumers. With the majority of shoppers setting budgets between €100-€299 and prioritizing wish fulfillment over impulse purchases, German retailers focused on strategic discounting rather than aggressive margin erosion.

Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics dominated German Black Friday interest, with 77% of German shoppers most interested in electronics deals, making it the most anticipated category during the sales period. Our analysis of 2,077 SKUs reveals how discounts varied across subcategories and which brands dominated search visibility in this highly competitive category.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

This was one of the few categories where Black Friday Week discounts matched or exceeded pre-sale levels. Wearables led pre-sale discounting at 16.3%, followed closely by Audio & Video at 15.8%. During Black Friday Week, these categories saw additional discounts of 12.2% and 12.4% respectively.

The standout performer was Home Automation, which nearly doubled its additional discount from 7.2% to 13.9% during Black Friday Week. Mobile Devices saw additional discounts dropping from 13.4% pre-sale to 7.1% during Black Friday Week. Meanwhile Gaming doubled additional discounting from 2.1% to 4.3%.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Our Share of Search analysis reveals significant shifts in brand visibility during Black Friday Week:

HP saw the highest share of search across Black Friday at 10.5% pre event and 11.6% during the event. Apple led with a 4.7% increase in visibility, jumping from 1.6% to 6.3%. Asus followed at 4.6%. Motorola surged 3.6 %, while wearables brand Fitbit gained 1.7%.

In stark contrast, Logitech dropped by 7.8 %, Beats fell 6.2 %, and SanDisk declined 5.5 %. Computer manufacturers Dell and Acer also struggled, falling 2.5 and 2.3 % respectively.

Home & Furniture

The Home & Furniture category in Germany showed unique discounting behavior compared to other markets, with additional Black Friday Week discounts (6.7%) actually exceeding Pre-Black Friday levels (6.1%). Our analysis of 1,403 SKUs shows how discounts were distributed across subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Kitchenware led pre-sale discounts at 8.7%. Decor surged from 5% to 7.5%, lighting jumped from 5% to 6.9%, and bedding more than doubled from 3.2% to 6.6%. These substantial increases suggest strategic timing to capture consumer attention during peak shopping days.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Mattress brand Slumber Solutions saw the highest share of search at 21.8% pre event and 26.1% during Black Friday week. Meanwhile, another mattress brand Swedrea led all brands with a remarkable 10.8% surge in visibility, jumping from 8.8% to 19.6%. Budget-friendly furniture brand Clickbin gained 9.2%, while window treatment brand Sun Zero increased 9% and home textiles brand Safavieh surged 8.6%.

Premium and established brands also performed well: Caraway Home (cookware) rose 6.6%, mattress brand Serta gained 5.3%, and Slumber Solutions added 4.4%. Royal Gourmet, specializing in outdoor cooking equipment, gained 2.0%.

However, several mid-tier brands faced steep declines. Addison Rugs dropped 6.9% from 8.5% to just 1.6%, while Sunlifer fell 6.8 % and Maxax declined 6.4 %.

Health & Beauty

Our analysis of 6,474 SKUs reveals subcategory-level insights and dramatic brand visibility shifts that highlight the evolving German beauty landscape.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 10%, with Black Friday Week adding 4.5% on average. Fragrance led pre-sale discounting at 11.6%, positioning perfumes and colognes as attractive early holiday purchases. However, Fragrance saw the smallest Black Friday Week addition at just 2.8%.

Hair Care and Skincare both showed strong performance across both periods, with Hair Care at 11.1% pre-sale and 4.9% during Black Friday Week, while Skincare registered 10.9% and 5.1% respectively. Skincare’s 5.1% Black Friday Week discount was the highest in the category.

Men’s Grooming stood apart with notably lower discounts at 3.3% pre-sale and 2.6% during Black Friday Week, suggesting either tighter margins in this subcategory or strategic positioning at different price points.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

L’Oréal Deutschland GmbH emerged as the most visible brand, surging from 37.7% to 51.9%, (+14.2). German pharmaceutical cosmetics company Medicos Kosmetik GmbH & Co. KG gained 4.4 %. Clinique gained 3.3 %, and French luxury brand Sisley added 3.1 %, German natural cosmetics brand Weleda rose 2.7 %, and Japanese prestige brand Shiseido gained 2.5 %.

The flip side? K-beauty brands and some international names faced significant challenges. Viral make-up brand Tirtir experienced the steepest decline visibility, dropping by 9.2 %. Aveda fell 6.2 %, Elizabeth Arden dropped 5.8 %, and Beauty of Joseon declined 3.8 %. German pharmacy brand Mi.to. Pharm GmbH lost 4.3 %, while Israeli makeup brand GA-DE fell 3.3 %.

The data reveals a clear German preference for European beauty heritage, pharmaceutical-grade cosmetics, and established prestige brands during Black Friday, rather than trendy K-beauty products or mid-tier international brands.

Grocery

While Grocery typically sees more modest discounts compared to discretionary categories, the German market showed interesting patterns with Black Friday Week discounts (3.5%) actually exceeding Pre-Black Friday levels (2.6%). Our analysis of 4,378 SKUs shows how German retailers approached promotions across essential and indulgent subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged just 2.6% in grocery. But Black Friday Week saw this surging to 3.5%, an increase that represents the highest proportional jump among all categories.

Pet Products and Household Essentials led discounting, with Pet Products at 4.6% pre-sale and an additional 5.5% during Black Friday Week. Meanwhile Household Essentials registered 4.9% and 5.4% respectively.

Beverages showed particularly strong Black Friday Week performance, jumping from 3.3% to 5.3%, while snacks doubled from 1.7% to 3.4%. Fresh categories maintained minimal promotional activity consistent with perishable inventory constraints: Meat & Seafood saw negligible discounts (0.6% pre-sale, 0.4% Black Friday Week), while Fresh Produce actually decreased from 2.4% to 2% during the main event.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

365 by Whole Foods saw the highest share of search at 9% pre event and 12% during Black Friday week. But Sprite led all brands with a 5.1% surge in share of search. Meanwhile, sister brand Coca-Cola experienced one of the steepest declines in our analysis, with visibility plummeting from 6.0% to just 0.1%. Fanta maintained modest search growth at 0.5 %. This stark divergence between two brands from the same parent company suggests vastly different promotional strategies during Black Friday Week.

Specialty and organic food brands performed well: Amy’s (organic/natural foods) gained 3.6 %, while spice brand McCormick surged 3.1 %. Pet food brand Nutro gained 1.7 %, while value-oriented Great Value added 0.8 %.

Snack brand Planters gained 0.4 %. On the decline side, Organic Valley dropped 2.8 %, Kraft Mac & Cheese fell 2.4 %, and Swanson’s declined 1.1 %.

Apparel

Apparel in the German market showed modest promotional activity compared to other markets, with Pre-Black Friday discounts averaging 5.9% and Black Friday Week at 5.2%. Our analysis of 2,321 SKUs reveals interesting patterns across fashion segments in the German market.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Footwear dominated discounting in both periods, with an impressive 23.3% pre-sale discount, and 15% additional discount during Black Friday Week. Men’s Clothing followed at 12.5% pre-sale, with additional 7.5% during Black Friday Week.

Activewear presented a unique pattern, with discounts increasing from 7.2% pre-event to additional 9.1% during Black Friday Week: one of the few subcategories to show higher discounts during the main event. Plus Size Clothing saw minimal promotional activity at 0.5% pre-sale and 0.7% during Black Friday Week, the lowest discounts in the entire category.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Danish fashion brand Jack & Jones experienced an unprecedented surge with a staggering 19.4% gain in visibility. Sister brand Vero Moda (also owned by Jack & Jones’ parent company Bestseller) maintained flat visibility at 7.1%. Footwear brand Chaoren gained 7%. Meanwhile activewear giant Under Armour rose by 5%.

However, established sportswear giants suffered dramatic visibility losses. Adidas experienced an 11.6% decline in share of search. Dream Pairs saw visibility drop by 10.2%, Puma fell 8.4%, and plus-size brand Just My Size declined by 3.8 %.

Want to understand how DataWeave’s pricing intelligence platform can help your business make data-driven decisions during peak sales events? Contact us to learn more about competitive insights, price intelligence, assortment analytics, content analytics, and digital shelf analytics.

Check out our analysis on Black Friday Pricing and Discount trends in the USA and UK. Follow our blog for more insights on retail pricing trends, brand visibility analysis, and data-driven commerce intelligence.
December 16, 2025
Black Friday 2025 UK: In-Depth Analysis of Discount Strategies and Brand Performance Across Major Categories
Black Friday 2025 saw British shoppers spend an average of £430 each this year representing a £91 increase from last year and totaling over £10.2 billion across the sales period.

The 2025 sales event arrived at a pivotal moment for UK retail. Retail sales fell 1.1% in October 2025 as consumers held back spending in anticipation of Black Friday promotions, according to the Office for National Statistics. Over 2 in 5 UK adults participated in Black Friday shopping, with 45% planning to pick up Christmas gifts at a discount, according to a Barclays study.

Against this backdrop of cautious optimism and strategic consumer behavior, how did retailers and brands perform across key categories this Black Friday? At DataWeave, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of Black Friday 2025 discounting trends across five major categories in the UK market: Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty, Grocery, and Apparel. Our AI-powered pricing intelligence platform monitored over 71K SKUs across leading UK retailers like Costco, Selfridges, Boots, Debenham’s, Carethy, Argos, John Lewis, Amazon, and more, revealing fascinating patterns in how retailers and brands approached this year’s sale season.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, DataWeave monitored average discounts across leading UK retailers during two distinct periods:
- Pre-Black Friday: November 6 – November 23, 2025 – capturing early holiday deals and baseline pricing
- Additional Discounts During Black Friday Week: November 24 – December 1, 2025 – covering Thanksgiving week through Black Friday (November 28) and Cyber Monday (December 1)
Our sample encompassed the top-ranked products across subcategories on major retail sites. We also analyzed Share of Search data, which measures brand visibility by monitoring which brand names appear in the top 20 search results for critical keywords.

Black Friday 2025 UK: The Big Picture

Our analysis covered 71,642 SKUs across five major categories. Here’s the snapshot of average discounts during the Pre-Black Friday period compared to Black Friday Week:

Key Insight: Pre-Black Friday discounts were substantial across all categories. This suggests UK retailers front-loaded their promotions to capture early holiday shoppers, with additional discounts during Black Friday Week adding to the baseline discounts already in place. The extended promotional period transformed Black Friday from a single-day event into a month-long campaign, with 60% of UK shoppers beginning their deal searches as early as October.

Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics remains a cornerstone of Black Friday shopping in the UK, with technology accounting for 48% of planned consumer spending during the sales period, according to PwC.

AI is transforming how consumers shop for electronics, with AI-driven traffic to retail sites expected to rise 410% year-on-year during the 2025 holiday season. Younger shoppers particularly embraced AI tools, with 17% of Gen Z consumers using AI platforms like Chat GPT and Gemini to source and compare deals. Our analysis of 10,297 SKUs reveals how discounts varied across subcategories and which brands dominated search visibility.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 11.1% across subcategories, while Black Friday Week saw an additional 2.3% discount on average. Audio & Video products led the pre-sale discounting at 16.3%, indicating retailers were eager to move inventory early in the season.

During Black Friday Week, Home Automation saw the highest additional discount at 2.8%. Wearables and Computers both saw solid 2.5% additional discounts, making them attractive categories during the peak shopping period.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Our Share of Search analysis reveals significant shifts in brand visibility during Black Friday Week:

Bose dominated with its Share of Search more than doubling from 11.3% to 23.8%, a remarkable +12.5% gain. Lighting brand Philips Hue followed, gaining by +5.4% in share of search during Black Friday week. Notably, Meta, with it’s range of wearables, stands out for a +3.1% increase in visibility.

Apple’s Share of Search jumped from 10.1% to 16.4%, a gain of 6.4%. At the same time, Fitbit’s share dropped nearly 11%, the steepest decline in the entire electronics category. Meanwhile, Samsung and HP also lost on visibility this Black Friday in the UK.

Home & Furniture

The Home & Furniture category continues to attract UK consumers during Black Friday, though with a more measured discounting approach compared to other categories. Our analysis of 16,487 SKUs shows how discounts were distributed across subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Home & Furniture saw Pre-Black Friday discounts averaging 9.1%, with Black Friday Week adding just 1% on average, the lowest additional discount among all categories. Furniture led pre-sale discounts at 13.7%, followed by Bedding at 11.9%. This suggests retailers aggressively promoted larger home goods early in the season to capture deal-seekers.

During Black Friday Week, Kitchenware saw the highest additional discount at 1.9%, making it attractive for holiday cooking and gifting needs. Conversely, Lighting saw minimal additional promotion at just 0.5%.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Made.com, the contemporary furniture brand, saw visibility surge during Black Friday with an impressive 8.9% increase. Similarly, emerging mattress brand Vesgantti gained 5.4%. Rug specialist Gooch Oriental also made significant gains with a 4.9% increase.

On the flip side, British heritage brands faced challenges. Both Laura Ashley and Julian Bowen saw share of search drop 2.2%. Premium mattress maker Vispring also declined 2.1%, while French cookware brand Le Creuset fell 1.9%.

Health & Beauty

Health & Beauty has emerged as a growth engine during Black Friday in the UK. The beauty industry is projected to grow 5% annually through 2030 according to a McKinsey survey. The category continues to demonstrate resilience even as consumers show caution in other discretionary categories. Our analysis of 15,816 SKUs reveals fascinating subcategory-level insights and dramatic brand visibility shifts that highlight evolving consumer preferences in the beauty space.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Health & Beauty presented a unique discounting pattern compared to other categories. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 14.4%, the second-highest among all categories. But Black Friday Week discounts were also robust at 6.1%, the highest additional discount increase.

Hair Care led both periods with 16.4% pre-sale discounts and an additional 6.4% during Black Friday Week. Skincare saw the highest Black Friday Week discount at 6.9%, suggesting retailers strategically saved their best skincare promotions for the main event when consumers are actively seeking holiday gift sets. Men’s Grooming stood apart with strong pre-sale discounts of 12.5% but more modest Black Friday Week additions of just 2.3%.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

The UK Beauty category saw some of the most dramatic Share of Search swings in our analysis.

Himalaya, the Ayurvedic skincare brand, dominated the category with a stunning 16.8% gain. British cult favorite Dr. Pawpaw exploded from 3.7% to 11.8%, a gain that reflects the brand’s growing mainstream appeal. Face the Future, the skincare specialist, also gained significant ground with a 4.9% increase.

Budget-friendly British brand Q+A continued its momentum, rising 4%, while prestige names like Guerlain and Tous each gained 3.8%.

Italian natural beauty brand L’Erbolario saw the steepest decline, with visibility dropping by 9%. Haircare brand Noughty fell 6.1%, and eco-beauty brand So Eco declined by 5.1%.

Grocery

While Grocery typically sees more modest discounts compared to discretionary categories, the sector remains a critical part of Black Friday shopping in the UK, particularly as consumers prepare for holiday entertaining and gifting. Our analysis of 11,979 SKUs shows how UK retailers approached promotions across essential and indulgent subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Grocery had the lowest discounts across all categories, reflecting the already-thin margins in food retail. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged just 5.7%, with Black Friday Week adding only 1.2%. Pet Products led pre-sale discounts at an impressive 13%, significantly outpacing other grocery subcategories.

Beverages and Household Essentials followed with 9.4% and 7.7% pre-sale discounts respectively, and maintained their lead during Black Friday Week with 1.7% and 1.5% additional discounts each. Fresh categories like Meat & Seafood (1.4% pre-sale, 0.6% Black Friday Week) and Frozen Foods (1.7% pre sale, 0.6% additional discounts during Black Friday week) saw minimal promotional activity, consistent with perishable inventory constraints and tight margins.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Doritos led with a 7.3% surge in visibility. Pepsi delivered an equally impressive performance, rising from 3.6% pre Black Friday to 10.7% during Black Friday week. Fanta too saw 5.2% gain in share of search.

Conversely, Coca-Cola gained more modestly at 1.6%, while its Sprite brand actually declined 0.9%.

Apparel

Apparel remains a Black Friday staple in the UK and is projected to deliver the strongest year-on-year growth of any UK retail segment this festive season. With clothing accounting for 39% of planned Black Friday purchases, the category represents one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds during the sales period.

Our analysis of 17,063 SKUs, the largest category in our study, reveals interesting patterns across fashion segments that demonstrate both the opportunities and competitive intensity in UK apparel retail.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Apparel showed the strongest discounting activity throughout the BFCM period among all categories. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 17.2%, with Black Friday Week adding 3.5%, making it one of the most heavily promoted categories.

Activewear led pre-sale discounts at an impressive 26.7%, with an additional 4.5% discount during Black Friday week. Plus Size Clothing and Men’s Clothing tied for second place in pre-sale discounts at 21.9% each. Notably, Plus Size Clothing saw the highest Black Friday Week discount at 5.4%.

Women’s Clothing saw robust discounts throughout, with 20.8% pre-sale and an additional 6% during Black Friday Week (the highest additional discount in the category).

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

White Stuff, the British lifestyle brand, saw a 7.2% surge in visibility during Black Friday. Y2K fashion made a statement as Juicy Couture jumped 5.8 %. Fast fashion player Pretty Little Thing gained in visibility by 5.2%. Comfort brands performed strongly, with Skechers gaining 4.5% and activewear specialist Sweaty Betty rising 3.4%. Even premium denim brand Levi’s gained ground, increasing share of search by 2.2%.

However, retail giants faced significant visibility challenges. John Lewis saw the steepest decline in the Apparel category, with share of search dropping by 10.6% during Black Friday week. Fast fashion giant Boohoo declined 2.5%. Premium accessory brand Coach’s share fell 4.9%.

The data suggests UK consumers gravitated toward distinctive brands with clear identities during Black Friday, whether heritage British labels, Y2K nostalgia, or comfort-focused specialists, rather than generalist retailers or fast fashion platforms.

Want to understand how DataWeave’s pricing intelligence platform can help your business make data-driven decisions during peak sales events? Contact us to learn more about competitive insights, price intelligence, assortment analytics, content analytics, and digital shelf analytics.

Check out our analysis on Black Friday 2025 Pricing and Discount trends in the USA.

Follow our blog for more insights on retail pricing trends, brand visibility analysis, and data-driven commerce intelligence.
December 16, 2025
Prime Day 2025: Shadow of Rising Prices Over Record Sales
Amazon Prime Day 2025 generated a record-breaking $24.1 billion in US online sales during its extended four-day run (July 8–11, 2025). While the expanded format helped broaden participation, it also diluted the urgency and daily peaks that typically define Prime Day.

Beneath this record-setting performance lies a more complex reality. Persistent inflation, shifting consumer behavior, and rising pricing pressures created a retail environment very different from previous years, one where higher baseline prices often replaced the deep discounts shoppers expected.

To understand these dynamics, DataWeave analyzed pricing and visibility trends across 11,495 products using our proprietary AI platform. The study focused on four major categories – Consumer Electronics, Apparel, Home & Furniture, and Health & Beauty – comparing identical SKUs from Prime Day 2024 and 2025, and tracking changes in both organic and sponsored share of search for leading brands.

The results reveal clear year-over-year price increases: Apparel led with a 9.5% rise, followed by Health & Beauty (7.9%), Consumer Electronics (5.1%), and Home & Furniture (3.9%). In total, 47% of tracked products saw higher prices, indicating that this year’s record sales were achieved in an environment of elevated base pricing rather than deeper discounts.

Multiple converging forces shaped the retail landscape leading into Prime Day 2025, pushing baseline prices higher even before promotions began.
- Supply Chain Pressures: Ongoing disruptions and elevated shipping and production costs continue to shape the cost structure across categories.
- Trade Policy Factors: Recent tariff measures and trade regulations may be contributing to upward pricing trends in certain categories, particularly those with high import dependence such as electronics and home goods.
- Labor and Operating Costs: Rising wages, transportation expenses, and general operating overhead are placing additional pressure on retailer margins and influencing pricing decisions.
- Currency Fluctuations: Shifts in exchange rates continue to add variability to the cost of imported goods, especially in globally sourced categories like electronics and apparel.
These combined pressures created a pricing environment where brands had less room for deep discounting, shaping not just how products were priced, but also how aggressively they were promoted.

To better understand the impact, we compared Prime Day 2025 prices to those from Prime Day 2024 for the same SKUs across major categories. This year-over-year view highlights how elevated baseline prices, driven by the factors outlined above, shaped the shopping experience and promotional strategies.

Consumer Electronics
- JBL prices increased 24% year-over-year, the highest among major electronics brands.
- Amazon’s own brand saw prices increase by 22%.
- Beats saw a significant 9% increase, while Sony and Samsung both experienced 8% price increases. Apple prices went up by 6%, and Google saw a 7% increase.
- Meanwhile, other established brands like LG and Motorola maintained minimal increases at 1%, Lenovo at 2%, Soundcore at 3%, and Bose and Hisense both at 5%.
Apple dominated visibility gains, jumping to 17.2% share of search during Prime Day with a 10.7% growth, likely driven by promotional focus on premium devices. Soundcore also saw significant gains of 10.3%, reaching 15.8% share of search.

LG and Amazon Basics both achieved strong 5.1% growth. Hisense gained 4.7% share with 5% price increases. Samsung and Amazon maintained strong positions with modest gains of 1.9% and 1.3% respectively.

However, several brands lost ground, with Sony declining most significantly by 1.8% share despite its strong market position, followed by Google (-0.5%) and Motorola (-0.4%).

Apparel
- Party Pants showed the highest price increases at 18% year-over-year, followed by casual wear brand Dokotoo at 13%.
- Athleisure brand CRZ Yoga saw prices increasing by 11%, while Under Armour saw prices rise by 10%.
- While Reebok experienced a significant 12% increase, Adidas saw 5% price increase.
- Meanwhile, innerwear brands like Hanes and Cupshe saw minimal price increases at 1%, while Coofandy also saw minimal increases of 1%.
- Amazon’s own Amazon Essentials maintained minimal price increases of 2%, and Jockey saw modest increases of 4%.
T-shirt brand Gildan led share of search gains with 4.0% growth along with a 5% price increase. Party Pants achieved 3.3% growth with 18% price increases, while CRZ Yoga gained 2.8% share and 11% price increases.

Amazon Essentials and Mens’ apparel brand Coofandy both improved share by 2.1%, with Amazon Essentials keeping price increases to just 2% and Coofandy at 1%. Under Armour gained 2.3% share with 10% price increase.

However, several brands lost ground, with Hanes declining significantly by 4.4% while keeping price increases to just 1%, followed by Cupshe (-1.4%) and Blooming Jelly (-0.7%).

Home & Furniture
- Mattress brand Best Price Mattress increased prices 23% year-over-year, the highest in the category.
- Amazon Basics showed 12% price increases, demonstrating strategic private label pricing.
- Home Improvement and Appliances brand Black+Decker saw a pricing increase of 11%.
- Better Homes saw an 8% increase, while most other brands saw price increases between 4-7%.
Appliance brand Acekool led visibility gains with 3.7% growth along with a 5% price increase. Amazon Basics improved significantly with a 3.6% share growth alongside its 12% price increases. Better Homes achieved 3.1% gains with 8% price increases.

Ironck gained 2.6% share with 7% price increases, and furniture brand Furinno improved by 1.5% with 5% price increases. However, several brands lost ground, with Samsonite declining most significantly by 4.4%, Best Price Mattress lost 2.1% share with its massive 23% price increase, and Allewie declined by 1.7% with 4% price increases.

Home goods face elevated pressure from expanded steel and aluminium tariffs increased to 50%.

Health & Beauty
- Minimalist saw prices increase 25% year-over-year, the highest in the category, followed by Tresemme at 20% and Oral-B at 17%.
- Neutrogena increased pricing by 14%, while Sun Bum rose 13% and Viking Revolution 12%.
- Nyx Professional Makeup saw price increases of 10%, Dove and L’Oréal Paris both at 8%, and Maybelline at 7%.
- Value-positioned brands saw modest price increases, with Philips Sonicare (6%), OGX and Banana Boat (both 5%), e.l.f. (4%), and Garnier (3%).
- Notably, Cetaphil, Colgate, and Sensodyne all kept increases to just 1%.
Dove led visibility gains with 9.3% growth along with 8% price increases. Minimalist achieved remarkable 8.1% growth even with the category’s highest 25% price increases, and Maybelline gained 4.9% share with 7% price increases.

Cetaphil improved by 4.8% with minimal 1% price increases, while e.l.f. gained 4.1% share with 4% price increases. However, several established brands lost share, with Oral-B declining most significantly by 9.3% along with 17% price increases, followed by OGX (-7.9%) with 5% price increases, Viking Revolution (-6.5%) with 12% increases, and Philips Sonicare (-5.5%) with 6% price increases.

In Conclusion

Prime Day 2025 underscores the shifting realities of retail, where persistent pricing pressures, evolving consumer behavior, and complex market forces are redefining how promotions are planned and executed. In this environment, success hinges on having the right intelligence at the right time, empowering brands to target promotions strategically, protect margins, and maintain visibility in a crowded marketplace.

As competition intensifies, the ability to anticipate trends and respond with precision will separate market leaders from the rest. At DataWeave, we equip retailers and brands with the insights needed to navigate these changes and make data-backed decisions that drive sustainable growth.

Stay connected to our blog for ongoing analysis of pricing, promotion, and visibility trends or reach out to us today to learn more.
August 11, 2025
Black Friday vs Boxing Day: Which Sale Event Offered Better Deals?
When it comes to shopping events, Black Friday stands out as one of the most anticipated dates for scoring deals. Typically occurring the day after Thanksgiving, the weekend kicks off the holiday shopping season with a frenzy of discounts. But Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26, is also well-known for its post-Christmas clearance sales.

This Black Friday, US eCommerce sales increased by a hefty 14.6% in 2024, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. While Black Friday leads in overall revenue generation for retailers, Boxing Day presents unique opportunities for clearing post-holiday inventory.

For a consumer, which sale event is likely to offer the most attractive deals?

At DataWeave, we analyzed discounts across retailers and categories to uncover the answer.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, we tracked pricing data across major retailers for Black Friday and Boxing Day. To provide a comprehensive analysis of Black Friday pricing strategies, we explored a matched products dataset, comparing identical 14,000+ SKUs across retailers within key categories.
- Categories included: Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Apparel, Health & Beauty, Grocery
- Retailers included: Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Overstock, Home Depot, Best Buy, Saks Fifth Ave, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus
- Timeline: November 26 (Black Friday), December 26 (Boxing Day)
Average Discounts: Black Friday vs Boxing Day

Our analysis reveals that Black Friday generally offered steeper discounts across most categories, although Boxing Day wasn’t far behind. Here’s a breakdown:

While Black Friday led in most categories, Apparel saw a slight edge on Boxing Day, with discounts averaging 40.22% compared to 37.67% on Black Friday. Electronics, Beauty, and Home, however, remained more lucrative during Black Friday.

Top 5 Products Higher Discounts on Black Friday

Diving deeper into specific products, here are our top 5 picks offering better discounts during Black Friday.
- Appliances like an Immersion blender set offering a discount of 88.29%, significantly higher than its Boxing Day offer of 86.62%.
- High-end electronics like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 also saw substantial markdowns at 84.60%.
- In beauty and fashion, both La Roche Posay’s retinol serum and Vera Bradley’s satchel offered discounts above 80%.
- Even everyday essentials like paper towels enjoyed generous discounts, with markdowns reaching 82.35% during Black Friday compared to 76.47% on Boxing Day.
Top 5 Products With Higher Discounts on Boxing Day

Boxing Day revealed some remarkable deals across diverse categories, with certain products offering significantly better value than their Black Friday counterparts.
- The JBL Go 2 portable speaker emerged as the standout, with an extraordinary 82% Boxing Day discount compared to just 20% on Black Friday—a dramatic 62% difference.
- Home furnishings showed strong Boxing Day performance, with the Costway accent armchair set reaching 80.30% off.
In Conclusion

Black Friday reigns supreme in driving early holiday sales, offering deeper discounts and drawing larger crowds. However, Boxing Day remains critical for retailers to offload surplus inventory and attract post-holiday shoppers.

By combining insights from both events, retailers can refine their strategies to maximize revenue and enhance customer satisfaction. For shoppers, the decision comes down to timing—shop early for better deals or wait to capitalize on clearance markdowns. The products and categories with more attractive offers tend to vary between these two sale events. Hence, as a shopper, it’s a good idea to keep track of prices all through the holiday season to take advantage of the best deals.

Check out our comprehensive coverage of Black Friday 2024 deals and discounts across categories.

For a deeper dive into the world of competitive pricing intelligence and to explore how our solutions can benefit apparel retailers and brands, reach out to us today!
January 21, 2025
Black Friday 2024 in Canada: Insights on Consumer Electronics and Home & Furniture
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are major retail events in Canada, with 43% and 29% of the population making purchases during these sales respectively, according to a YouGov report. Consumer electronics continue to lead the Canadian retail market during these events, with 55% of surveyed shoppers choosing to buy tech products on Black Friday. Household appliances come in second, with 25% of shoppers opting for these items, while 18% prefer to shop for furniture deals.

These statistics highlight the importance of delivering value during the Thanksgiving sales week. Retailers must cater to shoppers’ expectations with competitive pricing, attractive deals, and a seamless shopping experience. So, what unique offerings did Canadian retailers present to shoppers this season?

To understand the pricing and discount dynamics during BFCM 2024 in Canada, DataWeave analyzed discounts across leading consumer electronics and home & furniture retailers. Using our AI-powered pricing intelligence platform, we analyzed 37,108 SKUs across these categories for major retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Canadian Tire from the 10th to 29th November. We focused on the top 500 products ranked for each search keyword on each retail site, using targeted terms aligned with categories like “sofa” and “wearables”.

In the following insights, the Absolute Discount represents the reduction of the selling price compared to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Additional Discount reflects how much lower the selling price is during Black Friday compared to its price a week before the sale. This metric reveals the actual or effective value of the sale event, beyond the standard discounts typically offered.

Also check out our detailed analysis of discounts and pricing for the consumer electronics, apparel, health & beauty, grocery, and home & furniture categories across major US retailers this Black Friday.

Consumer Electronics

Retailers in Focus

Consumer electronics saw robust participation from major retailers, with Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart leading the charge. Here’s how they stacked up in terms of discounts:
- Best Buy emerged as the frontrunner in absolute discounts at 31.2%, while Amazon impressed with a notable 19.7% additional discount, indicating a strong Black Friday-specific markdown strategy.
- Walmart offered steady competition, particularly in audio and video products, which reached an average absolute discount of 37.2%. However, it’s average additional discount was only 3.1%, indicating muted BFCM-specific price reductions in this category.
Subcategory Insights

Diving deeper into consumer electronics subcategories, we observed varied discounting strategies.
- Audio & Video stood out as the most discounted subcategory, with Walmart leading at 37.2%.
- In Wearables, Walmart again took the top spot with 36.4%, while Amazon offered higher additional discounts (22.4%).
- Discounting for computers and gaming was less aggressive, highlighting strategic pricing to maintain profitability in these high-demand segments.
Brand Performance

Brand-level data highlighted how key players used Black Friday to drive visibility and sales.
- Dell led in average absolute discounts (36.7%) followed by Samsung at 36.68%
- Audio brand JBL offered significant absolute discounts at 35.9%.
- Apple and Lenovo offered comparatively fewer discounts but maintained strong visibility, as seen in their increase in the Share of Search during the sale period.
- MSI (laptop brand) and Bose (audio and earphone brand) experienced significant increases in visibility, with Share of Search increases of 5% and 3.6%, respectively.
- Notably, HP faced a decline (-3.2%) in the Share of Search, suggesting missed opportunities to align promotions with consumer interest.
Home & Furniture

Retailers in Focus

The home and furniture category saw competitive discounting, with Walmart, Canadian Tire, and Home Depot vying for consumer attention.
- Walmart took the lead with the highest absolute discounts at 36.8%. The retailer’s additional discounts were more conservative at 3.6%. This is similar to their discount levels in Consumer Electronics.
- Canadian Tire offered stiff competition, providing 31.6% absolute discounts and 25% additional discounts.
- Home Depot matched its absolute and additional discounts, maintaining consistency at 24.1%.
Subcategory Insights

Home and furniture subcategories revealed targeted discount strategies.
- Bedding emerged as the most discounted subcategory at Walmart (50.6%) and Canadian Tire (35.3%).
- Kitchenware saw competitive pricing, with Walmart leading at 42.9%, followed by Canadian Tire at 33.9%.
- Canadian Tire focused on lighting, offering the highest absolute discounts in this subcategory (38.2%)
Brand Performance

Brand-level analysis revealed stark contrasts in discounting approaches.
- Furniture brands Homcom led in absolute discounts (36.4%), while South Shore stood out with the highest additional discounts (30.2%).
- Value-oriented brands like furnishings brand Mainstays and mattress and bedding brand Zinus offered more modest discounts, focusing on consistent affordability.
- Zinus (mattresses and sofa brand) experienced a significant 7.9% increase in the Share of Search, driven by aggressive promotions.
- Home furnishings brands like Costway and Safavieh faced declines, reflecting the importance of aligning promotional strategies with consumer expectations.
Insights for Retailers and Brands

This Black Friday, Canadian retailers effectively balanced deep discounts with category-specific strategies to maximize sales. However, the fluctuating Share of Search highlights the critical need for brands to align promotions with consumer interest.

For brands and retailers looking to stay ahead of the competition, DataWeave’s pricing intelligence platform offers unparalleled insights to refine discounting strategies and boost visibility. Contact us to learn how we can help you stay competitive in this dynamic retail landscape.
December 18, 2024
A Deep Dive into Consumer Electronics Pricing During Black Friday 2024
Americans spent a whopping total of $10.8 billion online this Black Friday. As Thanksgiving Week 2024 wraps up, one thing is clear: the consumer electronics category continues to dominate seasonal shopping trends. Fueled by a blend of enticing deals and high consumer demand, the sector delivered competitive discounts across subcategories like wearables, gaming, and mobile devices.

At DataWeave, we analyzed discounting trends in the U.S. consumer electronics market during this year’s sales events. Using our AI-powered pricing intelligence platform, we tracked pricing and promotions for 22383 SKUs across Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy from November 10 to 29. We focused on the top 500 products ranked for each search keyword on each retail site, using targeted terms aligned with categories like “gaming” and “apple.” Here’s what we uncovered.

Also check out our insights on discounts and pricing for health & beauty, grocery, apparel, and home & furniture categories this Black Friday.

Retailers Battle It Out with Competitive Discounts

Discount trends reveal clear leaders in terms of markdowns:
- Walmart offered the deepest average absolute discounts at 36.9%.
- Amazon and Target followed closely, highlighting a diverse range of deals designed to appeal to budget-conscious shoppers
- Best Buy, the specialist consumer electronics retailer, offers the lowest discounts this Black Friday at 26.2%.
Note: The Absolute Discount represents the reduction of the selling price compared to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Additional Discount reflects how much lower the selling price is during Black Friday compared to its price a week before the sale. This metric reveals the actual or effective value of the sale event, beyond the standard discounts typically offered.

Subcategory Spotlight: Where the Best Deals Happened

From audio & video to wearables, each retailer carved out competitive advantages across subcategories.
- Both Amazon and Walmart offered high discounts in audio & video and wearables, but Walmart led, with discounts up to 46.3%.
- Best Buy, meanwhile, offered high absolute discounts on Mobile Devices(34%) and Storage (31%), followed by high discounts on wearables and Audio & Video.
- Amazon maintained a balanced approach, excelling in audio & video and mobile devices.
Brand-Level Insights: HP and Samsung Dominate

The biggest winners this year were brands that strategically leveraged Black Friday discounts to boost visibility and sales:
- HP took the top spot with average discounts of 36.9%, followed by Samsung at 31.4%.
- Despite its premium reputation, Apple offered an average discount of 29.3%, signaling a shift in strategy to attract deal hunters.
Share of Search: Shifting Consumer Attention

Search trends reveal how discounts shaped brand visibility:
- Microsoft saw the largest spike in share of search (+8.6%), thanks to aggressive pricing on gaming consoles and accessories.
- Marshall and Amazon also saw significant gains in visibility.
- Surprisingly, HP experienced a sharp decline (-9.8%), indicating missed opportunities despite steep discounts.
Consumer Electronics: Lowest-Priced Retailer Analysis

In the previous analysis, we focused on the top 500 products within each subcategory for each retailer, showcasing the discount strategies for their highlighted or featured items. However, to identify which retailer offered the lowest or highest prices for the same set of products, it’s necessary to match items across retailers. For this, we analyzed a separate dataset of 340 matched products across retailers to compare their pricing during Black Friday. This approach provides a clearer picture of price leadership and competitiveness across categories.

Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.

Category-Level Highlights
- Amazon leads with the highest average discount (41.35%), offering the most value to consumers. It is followed by Target (39.37%) and Walmart (36.15%).
- Best Buy, the specialist consumer electronics retailer, ranks last with an average discount of 31.53%, emphasizing a less aggressive pricing strategy compared to competitors.
Subcategory Highlights
- Wearables: Amazon offers the steepest discounts (55.40%), followed by Best Buy (50.60%) and Walmart (45.75%).
- Mobile Devices: Amazon also leads (37.94%), with Walmart (29.30%) in second place and Target trailing at 19.48%.
- Gaming: Target takes the lead (37.47%), with Amazon and Best Buy offering similar discounts around 30%.
- Computers: Target again emerges as the leader (39.18%), narrowly surpassing Walmart (36.13%).
Brand Highlights
- Apple: Amazon dominates with 53.06%, closely followed by Walmart (50.55%), while Target and Best Buy hover around 43%.
- Nintendo: Target edges out Amazon (37.62% vs. 36.54%), with Best Buy (33.21%) and Walmart (25.92%) trailing.
- Beats by Dr. Dre: Amazon leads (46.07%), with Target (37.14%) as the runner-up. Best Buy and Walmart offer comparatively modest discounts around 25%.
- Bose: Walmart emerges as the value leader (23.90%), surpassing Target (16.09%) and Best Buy (15.29%).
- Cricut: Amazon sets a high benchmark (54.13%), with Target far behind (36.43%) for this viral portable printer brand. Best Buy (12.32%) and Walmart (10.79%) offer significantly lower discounts.
What This Means for Retailers and Brands

Retailers looking to stay competitive should focus on strategic discounting and enhanced brand visibility. Brands must align with consumer expectations by:
- Leveraging platforms like DataWeave to analyze discount trends.
- Optimizing pricing and assortment strategies for seasonal demand.
For more insights into consumer electronics pricing, contact DataWeave to discover how our AI-powered solutions can drive success in today’s fast-paced market. Stay tuned for more category-specific analyses in the coming weeks!
December 6, 2024
The Apparel Market: A Closer Look at Black Friday Discounts
As the holiday shopping season kicked off, savvy shoppers embraced the spirit of the season, drawn by enticing deals. The apparel category is forecasted as the second highest earning category (Source: Statista), expected to generate revenues up to $43.9 billion, closely following consumer electronics. To understand the pricing strategies of top retailers amidst the sale season, DataWeave analyzed the pricing trends for the Apparel category this Black Friday.

We leveraged our AI-powered data platform to analyze the discounting across key retailers. Our analysis focused on the Apparel category, examining how Amazon, Walmart, Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus and Macy’s differentiated themselves through their discounts.

Also check out our in-depth insights on discounts and pricing for health & beauty, grocery, and home & furniture categories this Black Friday.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, we tracked the average discounts of apparel products among leading US retailers during the Thanksgiving weekend sale, including Black Friday. Our sample was chosen to encompass the top 500 ranked products in each product subcategory across during the sale.
- Sample size: 37,666 SKUs
- Retailers tracked: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus
- Subcategories reported on: Footwear, Kid’s Clothing, Men’s Clothing, Women’s Clothing, Activewear, Plus Size Clothing, Accessories
- Timeline of analysis: 10 to 29 November 2024
We focused on the top 500 products ranked for each search keyword on each retail site, using targeted terms aligned with categories like “athleisure” and “plus size clothing”. Our methodology distinguished between standard discounts and Black Friday-specific ‘additional discounts’ or price reductions during the sale compared to the week before, to reveal true consumer value.

Key Findings

This year’s fashion discounts were unprecedented. Let’s take a look.

Retailer Level Insights
- Nordstrom leads with the highest average absolute discount at 59%, followed by Saks Fifth Avenue at 35.5% and Bloomingdale’s at 41.5%. Macy’s shows the lowest average discount at 24.1%, while Amazon has an average discount of 30.4%.
- Amazon ranks lower in both average absolute and additional discounts compared to competitors, indicating a more conservative discounting strategy.
Subcategory Analysis
- Kids’ Clothing saw the deep discounts (up to 55% at Nordstrom), reflecting growing pressure on family budgets and heightened competition to attract budget-conscious parents.
- Plus-Size Clothing emerged as a major focus, with Nordstrom leading at 53.22% average absolute discounts, signaling that retailers are increasingly prioritizing size inclusivity and appealing to a broader consumer base.
- Footwear experienced robust discounting, particularly at Bloomingdale’s with 37% average absolute discounts, showing a competitive approach to attract customers looking for seasonal footwear deals.
- Activewear displayed substantial discounts, with Walmart offering up to 41% on average, aligning with the trend of consumers looking for practical and comfortable attire during the winter season.
Brand Level Insights

Apparel brands, meanwhile, also offer telling insights.
- Top Discounting Brands: Aqua leads with an average absolute discount of 44.58%, followed by Boss at 42.33% and Burberry at 37.84%.
- Lowest Discounts: Athletic Works shows the lowest average absolute discount at 31.23%, with a minimal additional discount of 3.73%.
- Competitive Advantage: Brands like Ralph Lauren and Boss show strong discounts, indicating aggressive marketing during the sale.
Share of Search Insights
- Top Gainers: Adidas and Nike each saw an increase of 1.20% in their share of search during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, highlighting their strong brand presence and consumer interest.
- Top Losers: Reebok experienced a sharp decline, losing 2.60% in its share of search, while Levi’s also dropped by 0.60%.
- Search Trends: The data suggests a strong consumer preference for activewear brands like Nike and Adidas and a decline in interest for traditional apparel brands like Levi’s.
Who Offered Most Value This Black Friday

In the previous analysis, we focused on the top 500 products within each subcategory for each retailer, showcasing the discount strategies for their highlighted or featured items. However, to identify which retailer offered the lowest or highest prices for the same set of products, it’s necessary to match items across retailers. For this, we analyzed a separate dataset of 418 matched products across Apparel specific retailers to compare their pricing during Black Friday. This approach provides a clearer picture of price leadership and competitiveness across categories.

Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.

Category-Level Analysis

At the overall category level, Macy’s emerged as the lowest-priced retailer, offering the highest average discount of 28.72%, followed closely by Nordstrom (26.06%). The steep decline in average discounts from Saks Fifth Avenue (14.42%) and Neiman Marcus (7.93%) highlights a clear gap in discounting strategies.
- Macy’s and Nordstrom are aggressively competitive on pricing in the overall apparel category, likely capturing consumer attention with substantial discounts.
- Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus may rely more on brand perception and luxury positioning rather than heavy discounting.
Subcategory-Level Analysis
- Neiman Marcus tops the ranking with an impressive 60.85% average discount, outperforming Macy’s (52.86%) and Nordstrom (43.04%) for Men’s Clothing. We see a similar trend with Neiman Marcus offering more value across Women’s Clothing as well, compared to other retailers.
- The competition in footwear was intense, with Neiman Marcus narrowly securing the top spot at 31.03%, slightly ahead of Saks Fifth Avenue (30.28%) and Macy’s (30.07%).
- Saks Fifth Avenue led by a significant margin in the Activewear category, offering 39.89% average discounts, indicating a strong push in this growing segment.
- Macy’s followed at 32.16% in Activewear, while Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom had comparatively lower discounts of 26.40% and 19.52%, respectively.
Brand-Level Analysis
- Kate Spade New York: Neiman Marcus leads with the highest discount of 55.23%, reflecting strong price leadership in premium fashion, closely followed by Saks Fifth Avenue at 51.66%.
- Coach: Neiman Marcus dominates with a significant 75.85% discount, showcasing an aggressive promotional strategy for this luxury brand.
- Spanx: While Neiman Marcus leads with 28.22%, discounts across other retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, and Nordstrom are clustered within a competitive range of 17–19%.
- Montblanc: Macy’s takes the lead with 20.32%, signaling its competitiveness even in high-end accessories, with Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom closely behind.
- Ugg: Saks Fifth Avenue leads with 31.42%, focusing on maintaining price leadership for this popular brand, while other retailers remain competitive with discounts around 25–30%.
What’s Next

To win over price-conscious shoppers, retailers need to stay competitive and consistently offer the lowest prices.

For a deeper dive into the world of competitive pricing intelligence and to explore how our solutions can benefit apparel retailers and brands, reach out to us today!

Stay tuned to our blog for more insights on different categories this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
December 6, 2024
Breaking Down Grocery Discounts This Black Friday
As shoppers flocked online and to stores during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the grocery category stood out as a key battleground for retailers. With inflation affecting consumer spending, discounted groceries have become a critical driver for both shopper savings and retailer competitiveness.

In fact, according to the NRF, one of the top shopping destinations during Thanksgiving weekend were department stores (42%), online (42%),and grocery stores and supermarkets (40%). Clearly, consumers are looking to stock up in bulk on their groceries to maximize their savings.

To understand the pricing dynamics in the grocery category, DataWeave analyzed grocery discounts across leading grocers, uncovering significant trends that shaped consumer choices during this holiday shopping period.

Our research encompassed retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart, examining their discounting strategies across subcategories, alongside trends in share of search for leading CPG companies.

Also check out our detailed analysis of discounts and pricing for health & beauty and home & furniture this Black Friday.

Key Grocery Market Stats for Black Friday-Cyber Monday 2024
- Retailer Discounts: Walmart offered the highest average absolute discount at 27.6%, followed by Amazon at 20.4% and Target at 14.0%
- Subcategory Insights: Beverages Category at Walmart saw the deepest discounts, with an average of 33.4%
- Top Gaining Brands: Cesar experienced the largest increase in share of search during the sales period (+3.89%)
This blog will dive deeper into grocery discount trends and brand-level strategies, offering insights for retailers looking to stay competitive in the grocery sector.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, we tracked the average discounts offered by major U.S. grocery retailers during the Thanksgiving weekend, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We focused on key subcategories within the grocery segment, capturing trends in discounting strategies.
- Sample Size: 18,324 SKUs
- Retailers Tracked: Amazon, Walmart, Target
- Subcategories Reported On: Fresh Produce, Dairy & Eggs, Pantry Essentials, Snacks, Frozen Foods, Meat & Seafood, Household Essentials, Beverages, Pet Products, Baby Products
- Timeline of Analysis: November 10 to 29, 2024
In the following insights, the Absolute Discount represents the reduction of the selling price compared to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Additional Discount reflects how much lower the selling price is during Black Friday compared to its price a week before the sale. This metric reveals the actual or effective value of the sale event, beyond the standard discounts typically offered.

Key Findings

Retailer-Level Insights
- Walmart emerged as the leader in grocery discounting, offering the highest average absolute (27.6%) and additional (18%) discounts.
- Amazon adopted a mid-tier discounting strategy, with average absolute discounts of 20.4%.
- Target, while more conservative, maintained competitiveness in select subcategories like baby products.
Subcategory Insights
- Pantry Essentials saw Walmart leading with an average discount of 31.2%, appealing to budget-conscious consumers stocking up for the holidays.
- Fresh Produce showed consistent discounting across retailers, with Amazon slightly ahead at 27%.
- Beverages stood out for significant discounting at Walmart, with an impressive 33.4% average discount.
Brand-Level Insights
- Lay’s led in absolute discounts (37.52%) and additional discounts (26.23%) showcasing aggressive pricing in the snacks subcategory.
- Good & Gather maintained its competitive edge with strong discounts, appealing to price-conscious consumers seeking value.
- Brands like Blue Buffalo (pet food brand) offered significant absolute discounts, but with a low additional discount of just 2%, the overall impact of the sale event on effective value was limited.
Share of Search Insights
- Cesar (dog food brand), Tide (laundry staple) and Doritos saw significant gains in share of search, reflecting successful promotional strategies.
- Brands like Pampers (baby diapers brand), Healthy Choice, (frozen foods brand) and Pedigree (pet food brand) experienced a decline, indicating less effective engagement during the sale period.
Who offered the lowest prices?

In the previous analysis, we focused on the top 500 products within each subcategory for each retailer, showcasing the discount strategies for their highlighted or featured items. However, to identify which retailer offered the lowest or highest prices for the same set of products, it’s necessary to match items across retailers. For this, we analyzed a separate dataset of 1433 matched products across retailers to compare their pricing during Black Friday. This approach provides a clearer picture of price leadership and competitiveness across categories.

Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.

Category-Level Analysis
- Walmart is the lowest priced retailer overall for the grocery category, with an impressive average discount of 44.60%. This significant discount advantage makes Walmart a leading option for value-seeking consumers.
- Target follows with strong discounts of 36.73%, indicating solid pricing in comparison but less aggressive than Walmart.
- Interestingly, Amazon was the most expensive in Grocery, with an average discount of only 6.3%.
Subcategory-Level Analysis
- Walmart leads in various subcategories such as Pet Products (21.12%), Dairy & Eggs (13.79%), Household Essentials (13.05%), Frozen Foods (15.07%), and Meat & Seafood (17.60%), showcasing its extensive value across the board.
- Target excels in Beverages (14.58%) and Baby Products (15.00%) with competitive discounts, standing out in these specific subcategories.
- Kroger provides notable value in Pantry Essentials (20.04%) and Fresh Produce (15.85%), although its overall average discount is lower than Walmart’s.
- Amazon consistently ranks lower in terms of average discounts across most subcategories, highlighting it as less competitive for consumers seeking the lowest prices.
Brand-Level Analysis
- Walmart also holds the top position for several key brands like Cheetos (14.92%) and Dannon (8.81%), making it the best option for consumers looking for budget-friendly choices across popular brands.
- Target takes the lead for brands like Betty Crocker (25.20%) and Chobani (11.37%), showing that it can offer value for specific products.
- Kroger maintains strong discounts for brands such as Delmonte (9.19%), but it does not outpace Walmart in the overall grocery brand comparison.
- Amazon generally lags behind in average discounts for most brands, with Dannon (1.12%) and Chobani (2.43%) showing significantly lower discounts.
Walmart is the lowest priced retailer in the grocery category and provides substantial value across a wide range of subcategories and popular brands. This ties in with Walmart’s ELDP pricing strategy. The retailer leads in overall average discounts and maintains its position as the go-to for price-conscious consumers. Target offers strong value in certain subcategories and brands but falls short of Walmart’s broad value based pricing advantages.

What’s Next

For grocery retailers, competitive pricing and targeted promotions are critical to driving sales during key shopping events. As consumers continue to prioritize value, staying ahead in the discounting game can significantly impact market share.

For detailed insights into grocery discounting strategies and to explore how DataWeave’s solutions can help retailers optimize their pricing, contact us today!

Stay tuned to our blog for further analyses of other categories during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
December 5, 2024
Black Friday 2024: Home & Furniture Pricing Trends Analyzed
The Home & Furniture category continues to thrive, propelled by consumer interest in creating personalized and functional living spaces. In 2023, the U.S. furniture and home furnishings market was valued at approximately $641.7 billion in 2023 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2024 to 2032. Black Friday and Cyber Monday play a crucial role in fueling this growth, offering consumers a mix of premium and affordable options across subcategories.

To better understand market trends and discount strategies this Black Friday, at DataWeave we tracked over 18,149 SKUs across major home & furniture retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Overstock, from November 10 to 29, 2024. Using our AI-powered pricing intelligence platform, we focused on the top 500 products in subcategories like kitchenware, furniture, decor, lighting, outdoor items, and bedding.

In our analysis, the Absolute Discount represents the reduction of the selling price compared to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Additional Discount reflects how much lower the selling price is during Black Friday compared to its price a week before the Black Friday sale. This metric reveals the actual or effective value of the sale event, beyond the standard discounts typically offered.

Also check out our insights on discounts and pricing for the health & beauty category this Black Friday.

Retailer Performance: Who Led the Discount Race?

Retailers showed varying discount strategies for Home & Furniture products. Walmart emerged as the leader in absolute discounts (37.5%) while Amazon offered the highest additional discount of 14%. Best Buy maintained competitive pricing across all subcategories, while Overstock and Home Depot offered relatively modest discounts.

Subcategories in Focus

Breaking down the discounts by subcategory provides deeper insights into consumer priorities and retailer strategies:
- Kitchenware saw strong competition, with Walmart (30.40% absolute discounts) and Amazon (29% absolute discounts) dominating.
- Lighting became a discount hotspot, with Walmart offering up to 45.8% in absolute discounts and 25.3% additional markdowns.
- Furniture remained a core focus for Target, delivering an impressive 34% average absolute discount.
- Bedding stood out at Walmart, where discounts peaked at 49.6%.
Brand Spotlight: Who Stood Out?

Among top-performing brands, furniture brand Costway offered the highest discounts, with an average of 48.4%. Meanwhile, Adesso (lighting solutions), Mainstays and Safavieh (both home furnishings brands) balanced discounts and premium appeal.

Search Visibility: The Winners and Losers

Share of search dynamics revealed significant shifts in brand visibility during Black Friday:
- Furniture brand Costway (+1.2%) and home improvement player Black+Decker (+1.5%) gained visibility.
- On the flip side, premium brands like Safavieh known for rugs and home furnishings (-16.8%) and furniture brand Burrow ( -1.7%) saw declines.
Who Offers the Lowest Prices?

In the previous analysis, we focused on the top 500 products within each subcategory for each retailer, showcasing the discount strategies for their highlighted or featured items. However, to identify which retailer offered the lowest or highest prices for the same set of products, it’s necessary to match items across retailers. For this, we analyzed a separate dataset of 735 matched products across Home & Furniture specific retailers to compare their pricing during Black Friday. This approach provides a clearer picture of price leadership and competitiveness across categories.

Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.

Category-Level Highlights
- Amazon emerges as the lowest-priced retailer across Home & Furniture categories, with the highest average discount of 27.50%, closely followed by Walmart (26.09%).
- Overstock and Wayfair trail with average discounts of 22.93% and 20.71%, respectively, while Home Depot offers the least aggressive pricing at 18.14%. This is notable, as all 3 players are known specialists in the category.
Subcategory Highlights
- Amazon stands out as the leader in multiple subcategories, including Appliances, Furniture, Decor, and Outdoor, offering competitive average discounts of around 26-29%.
- Overstock leads in Bedding and Kitchenware, with strong average discounts of 24.26% and 20.72%, respectively.
- Wayfair is notable for Lighting, with an average discount of 19.95%, and is also competitive in Outdoor and Furniture categories.
- Walmart consistently ranks high in several subcategories like Appliances and Bedding, providing solid discounts of around 22-23%.
What’s Next

For home & furniture retailers, driving maximum value during mega sale events like Black Friday involves offering bundles and sets to meet customer demands and trend expectations. Gaining insights into competitor discounts and pricing can help furniture retailers get an edge amid this environment.

Want to know how DataWeave’s intelligence platform can empower your business during peak sales events? Contact us to discover more about competitive insights, price intelligence, and data-driven decision-making.
Stay tuned to our blog to see more coverage on Black Friday 2024.
December 4, 2024
Health & Beauty Deals on Black Friday 2024: Insights from Top Retailers and Brands
The U.S. health and beauty retail sector shows remarkable resilience amid economic uncertainties, with the skincare market projected to hit $21.83 billion in 2024. Black Friday data reinforces this trend, with health and beauty products seeing a 14.6% surge in web traffic compared to last year.

At DataWeave, we conducted an in-depth analysis of Black Friday discounting trends in the U.S. health and beauty sector. DataWeave’s AI-powered pricing intelligence platform was used to monitor pricing and discounts across Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Target, and Amazon during Black Friday 2024. The study covered 19985 SKUs from November 10-29. We focused on the top 500 products ranked for each search keyword on each retail site, using targeted terms aligned with categories like “skincare” and “fragrance”.

The results? Beauty leads across categories in discount depth this year, with some retailers offering significant markdowns.

The Beauty Boom: More Than Just Looking Good

If there’s one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s that self-care isn’t just a luxury – it’s a necessity. This Black Friday proved that beauty has become an indispensable part of consumers’ lives, with retailers offering unprecedented discounts and crafting strategic promotions to capture the growing demand.

The Absolute Discount represents the reduction of the selling price compared to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Additional Discount reflects how much lower the selling price is during Black Friday compared to its price a week before the sale. This metric reveals the actual or effective value of the sale event, beyond the standard discounts typically offered.

Ulta Beauty led with 45% average discounts, followed by Sephora at 38.1% and Walmart at 35.2%. In terms of additional Black Friday discounts, Ulta maintained dominance at 35%, with Sephora following at 28%.

Hair care emerged as the standout category, with Ulta Beauty offering up to 56% discounts, reflecting sustained demand for at-home beauty routines. Skincare saw fierce competition, with Sephora emphasizing premium discounts (37%) while Walmart focused on value pricing (32.5%).

Fragrance and Makeup attracted consumers with targeted promotions from Walmart and Ulta Beauty, signaling strong demand for gifting items.

Major beauty brands echoed the sentiment. Premium skincare brand Clinique leads with 50.6% average discounts. Meanwhile, drugstore staples like Revlon (29.1%) and Maybelline (24.4%) balanced accessibility and affordability, driving mass-market appeal. Popular beauty and makeup brand L’Oreal Paris also offered a modest 22.8% average discount, reinforcing its position as a value-oriented brand.

The more interesting story? The massive shift in brand visibility, as our share of search rankings denote:
- Shampoo and hair care brand Tresemmé saw an unexpected 5.5% jump in the share of search results
- Beauty brand Herbal Essences gained 5.1% in share of search well
Declines in share of search were noted for brands like L’Oreal Paris (-1.8%) and Pantene (-0.6%), indicating missed opportunities in promotional visibility.

Insight: What’s driving this beauty boom? TikTok and social media continue to fuel beauty purchases, with viral products driving significant search and sales spikes. Plus, the “skinification” of hair care has turned basic shampoo shopping into a full-blown beauty ritual.

Who Offered the Lowest Prices?

In the previous analysis, we focused on the top 500 products within each subcategory for each retailer, showcasing the discount strategies for their highlighted or featured items. However, to identify which retailer offered the lowest or highest prices for the same set of products, it’s necessary to match items across retailers. For this, we analyzed a separate dataset of 1133 matched products across Health & Beauty specific retailers to compare their pricing during Black Friday. This approach provides a clearer picture of price leadership and competitiveness across categories.

Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.
- Bloomingdale’s emerges as the overall leader, offering the highest average discount of 14.87%, closely followed by Bluemercury (12.41%).
- Ulta Beauty ranks third (10.94%), demonstrating competitiveness across key subcategories, while Sephora trails with the lowest average discount (7.33%), reflecting a more premium positioning.
- Ulta Beauty leads in Hair Care with the highest discount (22.62%), while Bluemercury dominates in Skin Care (13.81%), Makeup (22.98%), and Fragrance (10.6%).
- Sephora consistently offers the lowest discounts across all subcategories, reflecting their premium positioning.
- Bluemercury offers the lowest prices for luxury brands like Kiehl (27.02%) and Laura Mercier (34.87%), with Bloomingdale’s closely trailing.
- Bloomingdale’s leads for Bumble and Bumble (13.59%) and Hourglass (23.41%), showcasing strong promotional efforts.
- Sephora maintains a more restrained discount strategy, with notable leadership only for Estée Lauder (7.18%).
- Ulta Beauty shines in offering the steepest discount for Briogeo (33.26%), emphasizing competitiveness in key brands.
What’s Next for Holiday Discounting?

For retailers, the message is clear: traditional holiday playbooks need a serious update. For shoppers, it means unprecedented opportunities to score deals in categories that traditionally held firm on pricing.

Want to stay ahead of retail trends and optimize your holiday shopping strategy? DataWeave’s commerce intelligence platform helps brands and retailers strategically navigate these shifts. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you make data-driven decisions in this rapidly evolving retail landscape.

Stay tuned to our blog for forthcoming analyses on pricing and discounting trends across a spectrum of shopping categories, as we continue to unravel the intricacies of consumer behavior and market dynamics.
December 3, 2024
Early Black Friday Deals Analyzed: How Top Retailers Stack Up on Discounts
Black Friday, once confined to a single weekend, has evolved into a shopping season that now stretches well before Thanksgiving. With inflation hovering around 3% and consumer confidence showing signs of recovery, retailers are adapting their promotional calendars to capture early-bird shoppers and maintain a competitive edge.

Major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, have capitalized on this trend by launching promotions weeks in advance, signaling the traditional holiday rush is now a month-long event. At DataWeave, we put these deals under a microscope.

Our Methodology

Using DataWeave’s advanced, AI-powered pricing intelligence platform, we tracked early Black Friday deals across Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty, and Apparel categories. We monitored dedicated Black Friday deal pages on Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Sephora to gather and analyze discount data a week prior to Black Friday weekend.

Who’s Offering the Best Deals Across Categories?

Our pre- Black Friday analysis reveals a clear pattern of premium brands offering deeper discounts across categories ahead of the holiday. Here are some key findings around retail players:
- Walmart emerges as the most aggressive discounter across categories, leading in Health & Beauty (57.07%), Apparel (48.97%), and Consumer Electronics (43.35%).
- Amazon maintains consistent but lower discounts (28-29%) across categories, suggesting potential deeper cuts ahead.
- Best Buy and Sephora, both category specialists, play it conservative compared to mass retail players.
Let’s look at each category more closely to get a detailed snapshot of the deals this Thanksgiving week:

Health & Beauty

Our analysis reveals that it’s not electronics, but the health & beauty category that leads with the widest discount range pre Black Friday, making it the category to watch out for.
- Walmart takes the lead with an aggressive 57.1% average discount in this category, capitalizing on its value-oriented reputation.
- Beauty specialist Sephora holds modest beauty discounts (32.81%) compared to other retailers.
- Amazon offers the broadest range of SKUs (571) in the category.
Among the health & beauty brands we analyzed, cosmetics brand Tarte and viral K-Beauty skincare brand COSRX stand out with discounts above 40%, appealing to cost-conscious beauty enthusiasts.

Consumer Electronics

Our pre- Black Friday analysis reveals interesting insights about consumer electronics deals this season.
- Walmart, once again, emerges as the frontrunner in the category with 43.4% average discounts.
- Best Buy plays it conservative in electronics (30.75%), despite being a category specialist, but offers the most extensive SKU coverage (3030).
- Amazon’s consistent 29.7% discount across 1,749 SKUs suggests they’re probably holding back their best deals for Prime members during Black Friday.
Brand-specific data for the category reveals significant deals on Speck (48.07%) and smart TV brand Insignia (39.22%), making accessories and mid-tier electronics attractive for early shoppers. Core computing (HP at 32.14%) and electronics brands maintain more conservative discounts. It remains to be seen if this changes on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Apparel

Our analysis of the apparel category reveals several highlights:
- In the apparel category too, Walmart dominates with an impressive 49% average discount, effectively targeting price-sensitive shoppers in the fashion segment.
- Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, both known for apparel, offer significant discounts at 43.2% and 37.8% respectively.
- Amazon’s expansive SKU coverage (1344) is countered by a modest 29.5% discount, showing its focus on variety over depth of discounts.
Premium fashion brands dominate the highest discounts this Black Friday in the apparel category. Vince Camuto leads with over 45.1% average discount. Notably, Levi and Nike’s aggressive 44.43% and 43.50% discounts suggests significant inventory positions or intent to capture market share.

Home & Furniture

Our analysis reveals an interesting trend across the category.
- In the home & furniture category too, Walmart leads at 41.8% average discounts. Target follows closely, but with significantly lesser SKUs on offer.
- Amazon’s 28.1% discount, though the lowest among major players, spans a substantial 1,982 SKUs, reinforcing its position as a marketplace for diverse needs.
Top 3 Products With the Highest Discounts Across Retailers

To provide a clearer picture of the early Black Friday landscape, we analyzed the top 3 products with the most substantial discounts in consumer electronics and health & beauty categories. These insights highlight how retailers are leveraging strategic discounts on high-value items to attract early shoppers.

Top Discounted Products in Consumer Electronics

Premium TVs dominate the discount scene, with LG’s 83″ OLED offering up to 44.5% off on Amazon, closely followed by a 44.4% discount on Best Buy, showcasing aggressive competition. The same product has much lower discounting on Walmart, but notably, the product is retailed at $3999.9, at least $1000 less than other retailers, highlighting Walmart’s commitment to offering lowest prices.

Gaming consoles, like the PlayStation 5 Slim Bundle, show moderate discounts (ranging from 15% on Walmart and Target to 25% at Best Buy), appealing to tech-savvy shoppers.

Notable competition is evident in price matching across major retailers, particularly in TVs and high-value electronics like the Nikon Z 8 camera, where Walmart offers the deepest discount at 13.75%, edging past Amazon and Best Buy.

Top Discounted Products in Health & Beauty

Viral skincare staples like Tatcha’s Water Cream show tight discounting consistency, with Walmart offering 19.47% off compared to Amazon’s 20% and Sephora’s 20.83%.

Trending haircare brand Olaplex displays greater disparity, with Walmart leading with a 33.33% discount, surpassing Amazon and Sephora. Luxury brand, Yves Saint Laurent’s Satin Lipstick is one of the highest discounted items across retailers.

Looking Ahead

Our analysis suggests that while some early deals offer genuine value, particularly in premium beauty and high-end electronics, many retailers might be holding their best discounts for Black Friday.

For shoppers, the key is being selective: jump on premium brand discounts now (since they’re likely to remain the same though the weekend), but wait on mid-range electronics and home goods where better deals are likely to emerge on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

For retailers, the imperative is clear: dynamic pricing intelligence is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge while protecting margins. Competitive insights will be critical as the holiday season progresses to balance market share against profitability.

Stay tuned for our Black Friday Cyber Monday analysis next week, where we’ll track how these early discounts compare to the main event’s deals!
November 28, 2024
Amazon Prime Day India 2024: Key Insights on Pricing and Visibility Across Categories and Brands
As the dust settles on Amazon’s 8th Prime Day extravaganza in India, held on July 20-21, 2024, the eCommerce giant has once again shattered records. This year’s event saw unprecedented engagement, with 24% more Prime members participating compared to 2023, marking the highest-ever Prime member involvement in the sale’s history.

At DataWeave, we’ve conducted an extensive analysis of this landmark event, examining over 47,000 SKUs across major categories for Flipkart and Amazon to uncover compelling insights into pricing strategies, competitive positioning, and emerging trends in the Indian eCommerce space. This follows our comprehensive analysis of Prime Day in the USA across categories and brands, which readers can explore for a global perspective on Amazon’s strategies.

Key Highlights:
- Tier-2 Cities Drive Growth: This year’s exponential growth was notably fueled by orders from tier-2 cities, highlighting the expanding reach of eCommerce in India.
- Swift Deliveries: Most Prime members’ orders from metros were delivered the same day or the next, while tier-2 cities saw deliveries in less than 2 days, highlighting the importance of delivery time when it comes to purchase decisions.
- Brand Participation: Over 450 top Indian and global brands participated, including Intel, Samsung, OnePlus, and Puma, alongside 3,200 new product launches from small and medium Indian businesses. This highlights Amazon’s policy to promote small, local businesses globally in 2024.
- Premium Products in Demand: Despite modest discounts across electronics and similar offerings, consumers chose to purchase premium products during Prime Day. With financial flexibility and no-cost EMI options, Indian consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, are now ready to invest in premium products and experiences.
Our analysis focused on both the Additional Discounts offered during Prime Day (calculated relative to prices the week prior to the event), highlighting the event’s genuine benefits, and the Absolute Discounts offered during Prime Day, representing the total markdown relative to the MRP.

Cross-Category Discount Strategy

Our analysis this year reveals that the Consumer Electronics category saw the highest Absolute Discounts with an average of 48.9%, closely followed by Apparel at 46.9%. The Health & Beauty category had the lowest Absolute Discount at 32.1%.

However, Amazon offered the highest Additional Discount in Health & Beauty at 9.3%. Electronics and Apparel had additional discounts of 8.6% and 7.7% respectively.

Overall, Flipkart chose to not compete aggressively with Amazon during Prime Day this year. Only in Electronics did Flipkart offer an additional discount of 3.2% during the sale. Price changes in Apparel and Health & Beauty were negligible.

Category Deep Dive

Consumer Electronics

In Electronics, Earbuds (14.7%) and Wireless Headphones (12.5%) saw the highest Additional Discounts on Amazon, likely due to high demand for personal audio devices. Smartwatches followed closely at 12.5%, indicating a strong push in the wearable technology sector.

Larger electronic appliances like TVs saw more modest Additional Discounts (5.2%), despite a significant Absolute Discount (42.3%).

Smartphones, interestingly, had the lowest Additional Discount (2.8%) among the subcategories, potentially due to their already competitive pricing or brand-specific strategies.

Brand-level Insights in Consumer Electronics

During the sale event, Soundcore (headphone and earphone brand from Anker) led with the highest Additional Discount of 10.3%, followed closely by OnePlus at 9.3%. These brands clearly leveraged Prime Day to drive sales and potentially gain market share.

Sennheiser and Sony also offered significant additional discounts, indicating aggressive promotional strategies during the event.

Notably, some well-known brands like Apple and HP offered more conservative discounts, possibly due to their established market positions or differing promotional strategies.

Despite modest discounts though, Amazon revealed that the iPhone 13 and OnePlus 12R were among the top premium smartphones customers bought this Prime Day. Prime members shopped from top brands such as LG, IFB, Bosch, and Haier and upgraded to premium appliances through affordability options of no cost EMI, Bank discounts and exchange offers, claims Amazon.

These learnings offer valuable insight into the mindset of the modern Indian consumer, who is ready to purchase premium products. Brands can leverage more detailed market intelligence to drive their positioning in India.

Share of Search Analysis

The Share of Search (SoS) for a brand represents the number of its products in the top 20 search results for relevant search keywords on Amazon, relative to that of its competitors. It provides insights into a brand’s visibility during the sale event.

HP saw the most significant improvement in its Share of Search during Prime Day, gaining 9.2%, with strong growth in both organic (7.5%) and sponsored (1.7%) listings. LG also made substantial gains of 8.2% and 5.3% respectively. Both brands offered significant markdowns on laptops and accessories.

Surprisingly, some popular brands like Apple (-0.6%) and Acer (-1.0%) experienced slight decreases in their SoS. Lenovo notably lost 7.2% of its visibility share, with a significant decline in organic listings (-7.6%). Samsung maintained its strong position with an increase in SoS (3.7%).

Key Takeaways:

While some brands like Soundcore and OnePlus used aggressive discounting to drive sales, others like HP and LG focused on improving their search visibility. The data suggests that a combination of attractive discounts and improved search visibility was key to success during the event. Brands that managed to balance these factors effectively, like HP and Samsung, seemed to perform particularly well. Interestingly, some brands with lower discounts (like HP) still managed to significantly increase their SoS, indicating that factors beyond pricing played a role in visibility during the event.

Apparel

Within the subcategories analyzed, Women’s Shoes (13.4%) and Men’s Shoes (11.6%) saw the highest Additional Discounts on Amazon, indicating a strong focus on footwear during the event. Men’s Shirts followed closely at 11.1%

Women’s Tops had a more modest Additional Discount of 7.9% despite a high Absolute Discount before the event. Similarly, Women’s Dresses showed substantial Additional Discounts (10.4%).

Swimwear for both men and women saw low Additional Discounts (3.7% and 3.0% respectively). Innerwear categories for both men and women had more conservative discounts, with Men’s Innerwear showing the lowest Absolute Discount (19.9%) among all subcategories.

Brand-level Insights in Apparel

During the sale event, Sangani (innerwear brand) led with the highest Additional Discount of 41%, followed by Louis Philippe at 25%. These brands clearly leveraged Prime Day to drive sales and gain market share.

Puma offered the highest Absolute Discount at 60% with a significant Additional Discount of 20%, indicating a consistently aggressive promotional strategy. Chromozome (men’s innerwear brand) and Bacca Bucci (homegrown shoe brand of Shark Tank India fame) also offered substantial Absolute Discounts (57% and 56% respectively), but their Additional Discounts varied significantly (16% and 6% respectively).

Again, some well-known brands like Adidas, and Pepe Jeans offered more moderate Additional Discounts, possibly due to their established market positions.

Share of Search Analysis

Biba (women’s ethnic wear brand) saw the most significant improvement in its SoS, gaining 3.60%, entirely through investments in sponsored listings. Allen Solly and New Balance (shoe brand) also made substantial gains of 3.3% and 3.2% respectively.

Surprisingly, some popular brands like Louis Philippe (-2.00%) and Sangani (-2.10%) experienced decreases in their SoS. Louis Philippe lost its share due to a roll back of its sponsored listings, while Sangini lost ground organically.

Key Takeaways:

While some brands like Sangani and Louis Philippe used aggressive discounting to drive sales, others like Biba and Allen Solly focused on improving their search visibility through sponsored listings.

Some brands with high discounts (like Sangani) saw a decrease in SoS, while others with more modest discounts (like Biba) significantly increased their visibility. This indicates that factors beyond pricing played a crucial role in brand performance during the event.

The significant use of sponsored listings by some brands highlights the importance of paid advertising in gaining visibility during competitive events like Prime Day.

Health & Beauty

Health & Beauty emerged as a standout category during Amazon Prime Day India 2024, with significant discounts and competitive strategies at play.

Within the subcategories we analyzed, Moisturizer (11.9%) and Sunscreen (11.8%) saw the highest additional price reductions on Amazon, likely due to seasonal demand during Prime Days. Make-up followed closely at 10.6%.

Electric Toothbrushes had the highest Absolute Discount at 47.1%, but a lower Additional Discount of 6.0%, highlighting that these products were already significantly discounted before the event. Similarly, Beard Care products showed high Absolute Discounts (43.7%) but lower Additional Discounts (5.7%) during Prime Day.

Everyday essentials like Toothpaste saw more modest discounts (19.9% Absolute, 8.4% Additional), reflecting steady demand for these products.

Brand-level Insights in Health & Beauty

Vaseline led with the highest Additional Discount of 13.1%, followed by Maybelline at 9.5%. These brands clearly leveraged Prime Day to drive sales and potentially gain market share.

Honest Amish (beard care brand) and Nivea also offered substantial Absolute Discounts (15.6% and 8.2% respectively), but their Additional Discounts were lower, indicating pre-existing promotional strategies.

Once again, some well-known brands like Colgate, Dove, and Neutrogena offered more conservative discounts, possibly due to their established market positions or differing promotional strategies.

Share of Search Analysis

Maybelline saw the most significant improvement, gaining 5.6% in SoS, all through organic listings. The brand has been aggressively increasing market share with several new product launches and influencer campaigns. Nivea and Vaseline also made substantial gains of 5.2% and 3.8% respectively.

In this category as well, some popular brands like Dove (-0.4%), Pond’s (-0.8%), and Honest Amish (-0.8%) experienced slight decreases in their SoS. Parodontax (toothpaste brand) notably lost 1.3% SoS, with most of the decline in sponsored listings. Colgate maintained its strong position with a slight increase in SoS (0.2%), reflecting its dominant market presence.

Key Takeaways:

While some brands like Vaseline and Maybelline used aggressive discounting and improved visibility to drive sales, others like Colgate and Dove relied more on their established market positions.

None of the brands made any significant strides in sponsored listings, revealing that brands in this category are not yet fully leveraging retail media to help manage and boost their visibility on online marketplaces.

Final Thoughts

Amazon Prime Day 2024 has redefined the eCommerce landscape in India, yet again, showcasing diverse strategies employed by brands to maximize their impact. By understanding and leveraging these insights, brands and retailers can better navigate future sales events, optimizing their eCommerce strategies to achieve sustained growth and success.

Stay tuned to our blog for more in-depth analyses of brand and retailer performance across various retail events.

Reach out to us today to learn how you can leverage data-driven insights to optimize your eCommerce strategy.
August 1, 2024
The Indian E-Commerce Showdown: Unveiling the Price War Between Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival
India’s homegrown eCommerce giant Flipkart, now backed by Walmart, reported a record 1.4 Billion customer visits during the early access phase and throughout the seven days of its premier shopping event, the Big Billion Days, launched on 8th October 2023. Competing with Flipkart, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival sale event started on October 8th as well and saw a whopping 95 Million customer visits to the website within the first 48 hours of the event.

For consumers, the most pressing question was, “Who offered more attractive deals and lower prices during these sale events?”

To answer this question, we leveraged our proprietary data aggregation and analysis platform and analyzed the prices and discounts on Amazon and Flipkart across key product categories..

The details of our sample are mentioned below:
- Number of SKUs Analyzed: 30,000+
- Websites: Amazon.com and Flipkart.com
- Categories: Apparel, Home & Furniture, Electronics, Health & Beauty
- Dates: 7th Oct 2023 to 22nd Oct 2023
Key Findings

Based on our analysis, the Big Billion Days by Flipkart showcased relatively higher price reductions across categories compared to the Great Indian Festival sale by Amazon. The Apparel category on Flipkart saw the highest average discount at 50.6%. The Health & Beauty category had the lowest discount across Flipkart at 39.4% and Amazon at 33%.

Overall, Flipkart offered higher discounts in each product category. It is clear that the retailer invested heavily in leveraging its supplier partnerships with key brands or sellers to enable them to offer higher discounts, thereby attracting more customers.

Next, let’s take a closer look at each product category.

Apparel

While a majority of retailers expected demand for apparel and clothing to dip this festive season in India, eCommerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart are likely to recognize the strong consumer inclination towards apparel during this period.

In the detailed assessment of Apparel sub-categories, Women’s Dresses, Women’s Tops, Men’s Shirts, Men’s Shoes, and Women’s Innerwear emerged as the segments showcasing the most substantial discounts during the sale events. While Flipkart offered higher average discounts across all sub-categories, Amazon offered competitive discounts as well.

We observed significant differences in the average discounts across brands between Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival. Reinforcing the significant discounts on the Shoes subcategory, brands like Red Tape, Arrow, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, and more offered extensive discounts on both Flipkart and Amazon. Notably, Adidas and Reebok offered better deals on Amazon’s Great Indian Festival as compared to Flipkart.

One8 by Virat Kohli had a significantly lower discount on Amazon compared to Flipkart, indicating an exclusive partnership.

For brands, however, reducing prices is just one approach to entice shoppers. They must also guarantee their prominent presence and easy discoverability within Amazon and Flipkart search results. To gain insight into this, we monitored brands’ Share of Search across various frequently used search terms in addition to the discounts they provided. The Share of Search denotes the portion of a brand’s products within the top 20 search results for a specific search query.

Our data indicates that Jockey and Speedo gained in Share of Search on Flipkart, but reduced discoverability on Amazon. Van Heusen fell behind in search results on Flipkart but showed a higher Share of Search on Amazon.

Home & Furniture

With demand for home and furniture products picking up in October, right before the festive season, Amazon and Flipkart offered significant discounts in this category.

Discounts on both Amazon and Flipkart hovered around 50%. Across a few subcategories, Flipkart offered slightly lower discounts compared to Amazon. Only Luggage, Rugs, Sofas, and Entertainment Units saw lower markdowns on Flipkart during the Big Billion Days.

Dishwashers and Washer/ Dryers saw higher discounts on Amazon compared to Flipkart. The significant discounts on these products on Amazon possibly point to changing consumer preferences, as demand for these products is traditionally low in India, but seems to be growing.

When it comes to Home & Furniture brands, Nasher Miles, Safari, Aristocrat, VIP, and American Tourister, luggage brands mostly, offered higher discounts on Flipkart, followed closely by Amazon.

In terms of Share of Search, Skybags had high discoverability on both Flipkart and Amazon. The brand leveraged a strategy of offering big discounts this festive season as well as ensuring prominent placement in search results. Wildcraft lost out on its discoverability on Flipkart in contrast to its prominence on Amazon. Duroflex saw lower searchability on Amazon compared to Flipkart’s Big Billion Days.

Consumer Electronics

The Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) expected an uptick in sales of consumer electronics products this festive season in India. With more consumers buying premium products using credit cards and EMIs, demand for expensive, high-end electronics was expected to increase.

Again, average discounts in this category hovered around 50% on Flipkart and Amazon.

Across electronics subcategories, Smartwatches, Earbuds, and Drones had the highest markdowns with Flipkart leading the pack during the Big Billion Days. Amazon offered relatively higher discounts at 44.9% on the TV subcategory, compared to Flipkart’s 40.6%.

Speakers, Laptops, Smartphones, and Tablets also saw lower markdowns on Amazon compared to Flipkart. Amazon was the official partner for the launch of many high-level smartphones and products in September-October, contributing to the higher markdowns in the subcategory.

Across brands, Lenovo’s discounts were the most differentiated between the two sites, with the brand offering higher discounts on Amazon (45.4%) compared to Flipkart (24.7%). Noise offered the highest discounts at 72.5% on Amazon and 52.8% on Flipkart. Brands like Boat and Zebronics, also saw lower discounts on Flipkart.

Mi and JBL offered deeper discounts on Flipkart’s Big Billion Days. Apple meanwhile stands out with only 11.83% discounts on Amazon, but the brand offered impressive 31.4% discounts on Flipkart.

Samsung dominated the Share of Search on Amazon at 15.7%, compared to only 2.6% on Flipkart. Apple and Lenovo also saw higher discoverability on Amazon. On Flipkart, JBL and Skullcandy stand out as brands with high search visibility.

Health & Beauty

The Health & Beauty category saw the lowest markdowns with only 39.4% discounts on Flipkart and 33% on Amazon.

In the subcategories analyzed, Electric Toothbrushes had relatively high markdowns across both sites. Staple and lower priced subcategories like Toothpaste had the lowest markdowns across both sale events, with Amazon offering only 17.4% average discounts.

Across brands, Beardo, a leading beard care brand, offered significantly higher discounts on Amazon compared to Flipkart. Most other well-known brands, including Nivea and Vaseline, saw higher discounts on Amazon compared to Flipkart. Only Tresmme and Dove were exceptions with higher discounts on Flipkart.

In terms of Share of Search, once again, Beardo was the most discoverable brand in this category. Brands like Dove, Pond’s, Swiss Beauty, and Tresemme saw a lower Share of Search on Flipkart compared to Amazon.

Navigating the Competitive Landscape: How To Thrive During Sale Events

Amazon and Flipkart’s strategic pricing during the Big Billion Days and the Great Indian Festival Sale reflects a balance of profitability, inventory, and competition. Competitive pricing insights empower retailers to make informed decisions, optimize strategies, and thrive during high-stakes sale events with timely and relevant insights at a massive scale.

To learn more about how you can leverage competitive pricing insights to stay ahead of the game during sale events, reach out to us today!
December 20, 2023
Black Friday Cyber Monday 2023: Unveiling Health & Beauty Pricing and Discount Trends
On Black Friday this year, Health & Beauty brands saw a significant increase with a 13% jump in foot traffic, according to a report by RetailNext. Despite caution from various sources, higher prices for everyday goods, and high interest rates, consumers chose to spend big this cyber week.

So what kind of deals did top retailers and brands offer in the Health & Beauty category this BFCM? At DataWeave, we harnessed the power of our proprietary data aggregation and analysis platform to track and analyze the prices and deals of Health & Beauty products across prominent retailers to uncover unique insights into their price competitiveness this BFCM, as well as understand how pricing strategies varied across diverse subcategories and brands.

Also check out our insights on discounts and pricing for Consumer Electronics, Apparel, and Home & Furniture categories this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, we tracked the average discounts among leading US retailers in the Health & Beauty category during the Thanksgiving weekend sale, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We noticed prices and discounts didn’t change significantly over the course of the weekend, and hence the average prices of products between the 24th and 27th of November are being reported. Our sample was chosen to encompass the top 500 ranked products in each product subcategory across leading retailers during the sale.
- Sample size: 15,253 SKUs
- Retailers tracked: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Sephora, Ulta Beauty
- Subcategories reported on: Shampoo, Toothpaste, Conditioner, Sunscreen, Makeup, Electric Toothbrush, Beard Care, Moisturizer
- Timeline of analysis: 24 to 27 November 2023
Our Key Findings

Average Discounts Across Retailers

Amazon leads the pack with a huge margin, offering an average discount of 31.9%, covering 62% of its products analyzed. Target follows an 18.8% average discount across only 5% of its analyzed assortment. The other retailers aren’t even close.

Ulta Beauty was the next in line, providing a 9.2% average discount followed by Walmart with a 6.8% average discount. Sephora, known for its premium beauty offerings, adopted a more conservative approach with a 3.5% average discount, targeting only 9% of its top products

Across retailers, it is clear that Amazon led the charge by far this cyber week, with the other retailers choosing to markdown prices conservatively in the Health & Beauty category.

Average Discounts: Subcategories

Amazon offered high discounts on lower priced subcategories like Toothpaste (49.4%), Sunscreen (46.3%), Moisturizers (38.5%), and Conditioners (37.5%), highlighting its focus on products with high demand that consumers would look to stock up on. Ulta Beauty also focused its discounts on Toothpaste (15.6%), Moisturizers (14.9%), and Conditioners (12.6%), targeting skincare and grooming.

Sephora, meanwhile, offered the most attractive deals on the Makeup subcategory at 5.3% across 12.67% of its analyzed assortment, banking on the demand generated due to the brand’s popularity in this subcategory.

Target prioritized discounts on Toothpaste (22.5%), Shampoo (21.6%), and Moisturizers (18.9%). Walmart too offered significant discounts on Shampoo (21.6%) and Toothpaste (22.5%).

Retailers prioritized staple subcategories like Toothpaste and Moisturizer with substantial discounts during this Black Friday Cyber Monday, ensuring a broad consumer appeal. In contrast, discretionary items like Makeup may be less motivated by discounts alone, and hence saw lower discounts during the sale.

Average Discounts: Brands

Brands offered the most attractive deals on Amazon, with OGX leading the pack at 58.4% average discount. Neutrogena and Colgate followed with an average discount of 50.4% and 44%. This mirror’s Amazon’s subcategory focus on shampoos, conditioners, and toothpastes.

Other instances of brands offering attractive deals across retailers include Belif (27.9%) and Anastasia Beverly Hills (17.6%) on Sephora, Johnson’s (20%) and Philips Sonicare (18.8%) on Target, and Olay (12.2%) and Colgate (10.6%) on Walmart.

Ulta Beauty hosted several attractive deals by specific brands, including Moon (30.7%), Joico (24%), and Clinique (22.3%).

Share of Search For Health & Beauty Brands Across Subcategories

Our Share of Search analysis illuminates the strategic moves made by brands to enhance their visibility, playing a crucial role in influencing consumer choices during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Among some of the leading brands, Head & Shoulders and Oral-B increased their Share of Search by 2.3% and 1% respectively, reflecting a successful strategy to boost brand visibility during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events. On the other hand, L’Oreal Paris, Colgate, and Neutrogena faced marginal decreases in Share of Search.

Overall, since the difference in Share of Search values did not change dramatically, the visibility levels of leading brands across key subcategories remained consistent during the Thanksgiving weekend.

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For deeper insights on pricing and discounting trends across a diverse range of shopping categories during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, check out our blog!

To learn more about our AI-powered Pricing Intelligence and Digital Shelf Analytics platform, contact us today!
December 6, 2023
Black Friday Cyber Monday 2023: Insights on Pricing and Discounts in Home & Furniture
Insider Intelligence‘s forecast of a 4.5% growth in US Holiday Sales this year has been validated by the sustained robust spending observed during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Despite multiple challenges impacting consumer spending, such as escalating prices of everyday products and elevated interest rates, shoppers continued to spend significantly, aligning with these earlier predictions.

However, in response to these projections, retailers strategically adjusted their approach. Our analysis indicates substantial discounts prevalent in the Consumer Electronics and Home & Furniture segments during Cyber Week. Prominent retailers specializing in Home & Furniture, such as Wayfair, Overstock, and Home Depot, notably led the charge in offering attractive discounts.

At DataWeave, we harnessed the power of our proprietary data aggregation and analysis platform to track and analyze the prices and deals of home & furniture products across prominent retailers to uncover unique insights into their price competitiveness this BFCM, as well as understand how pricing strategies varied across diverse subcategories and brands.

We’ve also recently published our analysis of the Consumer Electronics and Apparel categories this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, we tracked the discounts offered by leading US retailers in the Home & Furniture category during the Thanksgiving weekend sale, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We noticed prices and discounts didn’t change significantly over the course of the weekend, and hence the average prices of products between the 24th and 27th of November are being reported. Our sample was chosen to encompass the top 500 ranked products in each product subcategory across leading retailers during the sale.
- Sample size: 44,716 SKUs
- Retailers tracked: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Overstock, Wayfair, Home Depot
- Subcategories reported on: Dishwasher, Washer/Dryer, Mattresses, Beds, Dining Tables, Entertainment Units, Rugs, Luggage, Bookcases, Cabinets, Sofas, Coffee Tables
- Timeline of analysis: 24 to 27 November 2023
Our Key Findings

Discounts Across Retailers

Wayfair led the pack with the highest average discount of 27.5%, covering an impressive 88% of its Home & Furniture inventory. This bold strategy positions Wayfair as a go-to destination for consumers seeking substantial savings on high-quality Home & Furniture items during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Home Depot offered an average discount of 17.5%, covering a substantial 69% of the products analyzed, choosing to cash in on the Cyber Week madness. Overstock followed next with an average discount of 16.6%.

Interestingly, Home & Furniture happens to be one of the few categories in which Amazon did not offer the highest discount among the analyzed retailers, choosing a moderate average discount of 13.8%.

Best Buy also maintained a competitive stance in the category, providing an average discount of 12.8% across 58% of their assortment. Target adopted a conservative markdown strategy, offering a relatively low average discount of 6.5%.

In summary, the Home & Furniture category exhibited a diverse range of discounting strategies among retailers, reflecting a balance between competitiveness and profit margins. Consumers could have chosen from a spectrum of discounts based on their preferences and budget considerations during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Average Discounts: Subcategories

Among subcategories, Amazon offered a moderate 8.3% average discount on 32.9% of its products in this Dishwasher category, while Best Buy took a more aggressive stance with a 14.7% average discount covering 55.9% of its products.

Home Depot emerged as a standout player in the Washer/Dryer category, providing a substantial 21.3% discount on 78.4% of its analyzed inventory. Best Buy closely followed with a 15.1% average discount targeting 67.6% of its products.

Wayfair grabbed attention with a generous 36.9% average discount on Mattresses, covering almost all (99%) of its analyzed products. In addition, Wafair led the discount war in Beds, Dining Tables, Cabinets, Sofas, Coffee Tables, and Entertainment Units. Overstock took an aggressive pricing stance on Rugs, offering a substantial 52.3% average discount, covering 100% of its Rugs inventory.

Average Discounts: Brands

Among brands, Signature Design by Ashley maintained a consistent presence with substantial discounts on both Best Buy (25.24%) and Overstock (16.19%). This could be indicative of the brand’s commitment to appealing to a diverse customer base through varied retail channels. Costway emerges as a standout brand offering exceptionally high discounts at both Target (61.6%) and Walmart (51.7%).

Home Decorators Collection, Home Depot’s in-house brand, offered a significant 30.9% discount at Home Depot. High-margin private label brands like these afford retailers the opportunity to offer markdowns while retaining significant margins.

Strategic positioning on specific platforms, as seen with Alwyn Home on Wayfair and Noble House at Home Depot, suggests brands tailor their approach to the strengths and customer demographics of each retailer. The data suggests a nuanced interplay between brand positioning, discount strategies, and the perceived value offered.

Share of Search For Home & Furniture Brands

The Share of Search data for the Home & Furniture category unveils intriguing insights into brand visibility and performance during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday events. In this competitive landscape, where consumer decisions are influenced not only by discounts but also by brand visibility, the dynamics of Share of Search become pivotal.

Samsung strategically increased its Share of Search during the sale, showcasing a 1.2% improvement. This suggests a deliberate effort to reinforce brand visibility and capture the attention of potential buyers actively searching for Home & Furniture products, in this case, Washer/Dryers and Dishwashers.

Bosch too experienced a notable surge in Share of Search by 1.1%. LG, meanwhile, maintained a consistent Share of Search, with a marginal decrease of 0.1%. American Tourister experienced a modest increase in Share of Search by 0.4%.

Like in the other categories analyzed, the dynamics of Share of Search in the Home & Furniture category reflect brand strategies aimed at not only offering discounts but also ensuring heightened visibility during the critical Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events. Positive shifts indicate effective marketing efforts, while stable performers demonstrate a resilient brand presence in a competitive online marketplace.

To explore how our insights can help retailers and brands boost their pricing strategies during sale events, reach out to us today!

For more in-depth analyses and trends across various shopping categories, stay tuned to our blog.
December 1, 2023
Which Amazon Sale Offered Better Deals: Prime Day in July or Big Deal Days in October?
Amazon reported a record-breaking Prime Day this July, marking it as the biggest sales event in the company’s history. So when the eCommerce giant announced the Prime Big Deal Days this fall, we were curious to find out how big a deal it really is.

The Prime Big Deal Days, similar in magnitude to the Summer Prime Day, promised to present substantial savings across a diverse range of categories, including electronics, toys, home, fashion, beauty, and Amazon products.

However, for a shopper, an important question is: Does the Prime Big Deal Days in October offer lower prices than Amazon’s mega Prime Day event in July?

To answer this question, we turned our data aggregation and analysis platform to focus on these two sale events and analyzed which event offered better deals across key categories and brands.

TL;DR: Surprisingly, the Prime Big Deal Days in October offered, on average, 2.02% higher discounts than its counterpart event in July.

Read on for details on how we went about our analysis and how discounts vary across categories, sub-categories, and brands.

Our Methodology

We tracked the prices and discounts of a large sample of products during both Prime Day events. The following are some relevant details about our sample:
- Number of products analyzed: 1500+
- Categories: Apparel, Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty
- Prime Day Sale Analysis: 11-12 July 2023
- Prime Big Deal Days Analysis: 10-11 Oct 2023
- Website: Amazon.com
Our analysis focused on the differences in the prices and discount levels of products between the two sale events.

Our Key Findings

The average discount during the Prime Big Deal Days in October was 29.44%, which was 2.02% higher than the average discount during the Prime Day sale in July (27.42%). Interestingly, the October event offered better deals across each product category analyzed, albeit at slightly varying levels.

By offering deeper discounts in October, Amazon may have aimed to encourage early holiday shopping, thereby capturing a larger share of the consumer wallet before competitors intensify their promotional activities closer to the festive season.

As other retailers and online marketplaces gear up for their own holiday promotional events, Amazon’s decision to provide heightened discounts in October could serve as a preemptive move to secure customer loyalty and drive sales momentum before the onset of the peak shopping period.

Additionally, Amazon’s strategic push to amplify the visibility of its diverse product offerings, including exclusive launches and partnerships during the October event might have contributed to the higher discounts.

Next, let’s take a closer look at each product category.

Apparel

During October’s Prime Big Deal Days, the Apparel category experienced a notable uptick, boasting a 2.29% increase in discounts compared to the earlier Prime Day event in July.

In the detailed assessment of Apparel sub-categories, Men’s and Women’s Swimwear, alongside Men’s Shoes, Innerwear, and Athleisure, emerged as the segments showcasing the most substantial average discounts during October. Fall also brought about more affordable prices for Women’s Innerwear and Men’s Shirts. However, Women’s Athleisure, Dresses, and Tops displayed diminished average discounts during this Prime Big Deal Days event.

Delving into brand-specific analyses revealed intriguing trends. Athleisure brands such as Ibkul, Esprlia, and Ryka notably escalated their discounts in October after minimal markdowns during the Summer Prime Day sale.

Steve Madden, witnessing heightened discounts in October, hinted at a growing demand for boots and footwear in the Autumn and Winter seasons. For instance, the Steve Madden Men’s Fenta Fashion Sneaker was priced at $46 during the Summer Prime Day, and only at $35 during the Prime Big Deal Days in October.

Conversely, brands like PGA Tour, Land’s End, Roxy, and Anrabess offered more substantial discounts during the Summer compared to the October event.

Consumer Electronics

The Consumer Electronics segment during October’s Prime Big Deal Days showcased an average price decrease of 1.98% compared to the Prime Day event in July.

Nearly all scrutinized subcategories experienced heightened discounts during the Fall Prime Big Deal Days in October. Tablets, Speakers, Drones, and Smartwatches notably presented higher discounts of 4.06%, 3.51%, 2.99%, and 2.69%, respectively, in October. However, more enticing deals were found on Earbuds and TVs during July’s event.

Examining consumer electronics brands, Google stood out by offering the most compelling deals in October, boasting an average discount of 23.35%, marking an 8.94% increase from the Summer Prime Days’ 14.41%. Psier, Sony, and OnePlus also featured significantly reduced prices during the Fall. For example, the OnePlus 10 Pro | 8GB+128GB was $500 during the sale in July and only $440 during the Prime Big Deal Days in October.

Conversely, prominent brands such as Bose, Sennheiser, Samsung, LG, and Asus opted to offer heavier discounts in July. Notably, the Samsung All-in-One Soundbar w/Dolby 5.1 was priced at $218 in October but only $168 in July.

Home & Furniture

During October’s Prime Big Deal Days, the Home & Furniture category experienced a notable 1.59% increase in average discounts compared to the Prime Day event held in July.

Notably, Entertainment Units, Rugs, and Coffee Tables emerged as standout sub-categories that were more attractively priced in October, exhibiting price differences of 7.73%, 5.33%, and 4.80%, respectively.

Interestingly, among the scrutinized sub-categories, only Luggage showed a lower price during the Prime Day sale in July compared to the October event. This shift likely reflects evolving consumer demand as the holiday season approaches, with items like rugs and entertainment units becoming increasingly sought-after categories for purchase.

If you’re keen to explore how these trends vary across brands within this category, reach out to us for more insights.

Health & Beauty

During October’s Prime Big Deal Days, the Health & Beauty category showcased products at an average of 1.99% lower prices compared to the Prime Day event held in July.

Our analysis of Health & Beauty reveals that a majority of the subcategories presented higher discounts during the October Big Deal Days event. Essential items such as Toothpaste, Sunscreen, and Electric Toothbrushes notably stood out as significantly more affordable during the Fall event, reflecting not only consistent demand but also a seasonal emphasis on these products. For instance, the Oral B iO Series 3 Limited Edition Electric Toothbrush, priced at $140 during the summer Prime Days, was further discounted to $120 in the fall event.

Interestingly, Beard Care emerged as an exception, displaying higher discounts during the Prime Day sale in Summer compared to Fall’s Prime Big Deal Days.

Examining brands within the category, Babyganics, Thinkbaby, and Vaseline showcased substantial increases in average additional discounts during October’s Prime Big Deal Days.

Conversely, prominent brands like Maybelline, Neutrogena, and Cetaphil offered lower discounts during the fall event.

Competitive Insights to Drive Optimized Sale Event Pricing

At DataWeave, we understand the pivotal role of competitive pricing insights in empowering retailers and brands to gain a competitive edge, especially during significant events like Prime Day. Our commitment lies in providing retailers with precise and extensive competitor price tracking on a large scale. This empowers them to devise impactful pricing strategies and consistently uphold a competitive stance in the market. To learn more about how this can be done, talk to us today!
November 20, 2023
UK’s Biggest Sale Days: What we saw in 2021 and trends for 2022
Customers love discounts, and promotions are the most effective tool to attract shoppers and increase sales during the holiday season and clearance sales. According to a survey, 76% of UK customers look for discounts before purchasing a product. Promotional discounts encourage customers to try new brands. And this is why brands often have a special coupon for first-time users.

According to Software Advice, discounting tops the pricing strategy for retailers across all industries. It is preferred by 97% of survey respondents over other promotional strategies.

Share of Respondents

Retail Trends in the UK for 2022

The arrival of the Omicron variant in December 2021 slashed the shopping mood of UK customers and led to a 3.7% monthly drop in retail sales, but sales were still higher than February 2020 levels when Covid-19 first hit worldwide. Sales during the holiday season in 2021 took a hit due to a consistent decline in product availability and an increase in prices. Inflation too started to rise in 2021 and is expected to increase by 7% by spring 2022. However, despite inflation, retail sales jumped back in January 2022. In fact, it is predicted that inflation will be a key driver of sales growth, with underlying demand across categories being uneven. Keeping that in mind, let’s look at sales growth across categories in 2021 and projected growth in 2022.

Category Breakdown: Sales growth 2021/22

Discounting Trends we saw in the UK in 2021

Methodology
- We tracked prices on the three biggest Sales Days in the UK
  – Amazon Prime Day, June 21^st & 22^nd 2021
  – Black Friday, Nov 26^th, 2021
  – Cyber Monday, Nov 29^th, 2021
- Categories tracked: Beauty, Fashion, Electronics, Home Improvement, Furniture
- Websites tracked: Amazon UK, OnBuy, eBay UK, Etsy, Wayfair, Selfridges, John Lewis
Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are three of the biggest sales days with comparable discounts. However, according to new research, in 54% of cases, it depends on the category of product you’re after that determines the volume of discount you get. For example, tech items such as smartphones, laptops, games consoles, smartwatches, and wireless speakers were cheaper on Black Friday but may not necessarily have been cheaper on the other sale days.

We wanted to see which sale period had the most number of products on discount during the three big sale events. We also wanted to see which of those three sales would’ve been the best for consumers to get a higher section of products at a discount.

How Big were the Discounts?

Discount across 3 key Sale Days

32% of products went on discount during Black Friday, 35% on Cyber Monday, and only 6.6% on Prime Day. One factor contributing to the low Prime Day percentage is the fact that not all retailers participate in discounting wars during Prime Day since it’s an exclusive Amazon-only sale. Customers looking for the best deals would’ve gotten them during the holiday season with a combination of the Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales.

Another interesting thing to note is the percentage discount – on Prime Day, only 0.2% of products had a discount of over 50% of all the discounted products. While on Black Friday & Cyber Monday that number was 1.7% & 1.3% respectively.

In conclusion, more products were offered at a discount on Black Friday & Cyber Monday; and the total percentage discount on those products was also higher.

Which Categories had the Maximum Discount?

Discounts by category

On Black Friday, an estimated 47% of consumers in the UK planned to shop for electronics, whereas 40% of customers planned to shop for clothing and footwear during Black Friday to Cyber Monday. The top-selling categories across the 48 hours of Amazon UK’s Black Friday 2021 sale included Home, Toys, Beauty, Books, and Health & Personal Care.

Our data shows that Categories with the highest discounts were Beauty and Electronics with the highest discount on all 3 sale events. These 2 categories had discounts on over 40% products on Black Friday & Cyber Monday while categories like Home Improvement were in the 30 – 35% range, Furniture in the 27 – 32% range and Fashion has the least products on discounts at a little over 15%

In the fashion category in the UK, Amazon UK offered the highest percentage of items with a price decrease (31.6%), whereas eBay offered the most significant magnitude of price decrease (14.3%).

Which UK Retailers gave the most discounts?

OnBuy is an emerging marketplace in the UK that offers impressive discounted prices and is taking on top UK marketplaces like Amazon. It’s ranked Britain’s fastest-growing eCommerce platform in 2020 and also the fastest grower by traffic. The low listing fees starting at 5% allow sellers to competitively price their products, making them more accessible to a greater number of buyers with huge discounts. The most prominent deals and discounts are highlighted on the landing page and featured across OnBuy’s social pages to grab the audience’s attention.

Discounts by Retailer

This was clearly reflective in the data we gathered from the 3 big sales in 2021. Most retailers in the UK, including Amazon offered at best 20% of their products, in the categories we tracked, at discount. The only outlier was OnBuy – OnBuy offered close to 90% of their products at discount!

OnBuy was able to offer a comparatively high number of discounted products than their competition because the magnitude of the discount was much much lower. The platform offered minimal discounts; out of the 90% of discounted products, 80% of those products had discounts that were less than 10%. As opposed to other retailers who had under 7% of their products on discounts of less than 10%.

OnBuy’s discounting strategy built a perception that they were the biggest discounters, even when the discounts were not as deep.

Black Friday v/s Cyber Monday – which one was better for holiday shoppers?

Discount by category- Black Friday VS Cyber Monday

Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season and is synonymous with some of the most significant sales after Thanksgiving. But until recently, Cyber Monday has become a great way for eCommerce retailers to capitalize on holiday discounts and expand their most beneficial sales events of the year.

In 2021, retailers pulled in $8.9 billion in Black Friday online sales and a total sales of $10.7 billion on Cyber Monday. In the YOY review, Black Friday saw a decline of 1.3% from 2020’s record of $9.03 billion, and Cyber Monday saw a drop of 1.4%, only $100 million shy of $10.8 billion in 2020.

Across Beauty, Home Improvement, Electronics & Furniture categories, we saw that more products were on discount on Cyber Monday v/s Black Friday. However, the opposite was true for the Fashion Category. In the Fashion Category, we saw a marginally higher number of products on Discount during Black Friday than Cyber Monday.

Discount percentages across categories

Across both sales, the Electronics category offered the highest discounts at over 40% of products discounted compared to other categories on both Black Friday & Cyber Monday. However, a very small fraction of the products had a discount of over 50%, indicating the lack of ‘BIG blockbuster deals’ in this category. At the same time, the Fashion category offered the least number of deals with less than 20% products on discount, but the highest magnitude of discount across the board! On Black Friday, 3.8% of products had discounts higher than 50%, and 2.6% of products on Cyber Monday. In most other categories, between 1 – 1.5% of products had over 50% discount. However, Fashion brands offered more than 50% discount on 2x the average number of products on both sale days.

Why did the Fashion Category offer such high discounts? Brands are now capitalizing on customers’ need for instant gratification in the age of see-now, buy-now fashion trends by offering their products at high discounts. It also allows them to quickly eliminate overstock. However, this has given rise to fast fashion, a trend that focuses on rapidly producing low-quality clothes in huge volume. Fast fashion focuses on replicating trendy pieces like streetwear and fashion week designs, not four times a year but every week, if not daily. Fast fashion promotes brands to manufacture and sell low-quality merchandise that goes out of trend as soon as buyers wear it once. There is little to no time for quality control, and pieces are thrown away after a few wears. In the UK alone, 300,000 tonnes of used clothes are buried or burned in landfills each year. However, every element of fast fashion from rapid production, competitive pricing, to trend replication has a detrimental impact on the planet.

Conclusion

The effects of COVID-19 can be seen far and wide in the UK retail industry, especially with a steep rise in inflation. Fortunately, even though retail sales in the UK declined during the 2021 holiday season due to the Omicron variant, they increased during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Sales also jumped back in January 2022 and are further projected to grow by 5% in 2022. Additionally, brands can sustain the impact of disruptive factors throughout 2022 by ensuring their Digital Shelf is updated and flexible enough to react swiftly to both threats and opportunities in order to maximize the chances of success.

Reach out to the team at DataWeave if you’d like to make smarter pricing & discounting decisions with up-to-date competitive insights.
February 15, 2022
2021 Cost-Push Inflationary Trends Ran Rampant, Impacting Holiday Discounts

Business has been anything but usual this holiday season, especially in the digital retail world. The holiday hustle and bustle historically seen in stores was once again occurring online, but not as anticipated given the current strength of consumer demand and the reemergence of COVID-19 limiting in-store traffic. While ‘Cyber Weekend’, Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, continues to further its importance to retailers and brands, this year’s performance fell short of expectation due to product shortages and earlier promotions that pulled forward holiday demand.

Holiday promotions were seen beginning as early as October in order to compete with 2020 Prime Day sales, but discounting, pricing and availability took an opposite direction from usual. This shift influenced our team to get a jump start on our 2021 digital holiday analysis to assess how drastic the changes were versus 2020 activity, and to understand how much of this change has been influenced by inflationary pressures and product scarcity.

Scarcity Becomes a Reality

Our initial analysis started by reviewing year-over-year product availability and pricing changes from January through September 2021, leading up to the holiday season, as detailed in our 2021 Cyber Weekend Preliminary Insights blog. We reviewed popular holiday categories like apparel, electronics, and toys, to have a broad sense of notable trends seen consistently throughout various, applicable marketplaces. What we found was a consistent decline in product availability over the last six months compared to last year, alongside an increase in prices.

Although retailers significantly improved stock availability in November and early December 2021, even digital commerce giants like Amazon and Target were challenged to maintain consistent product availability on their website as seen below. While small in magnitude, there is also a declining trend occurring again closer toward the end of our analysis period, post Cyber Weekend, across all websites included in our analysis.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Product Availability insights for Home & Garden, Jewelry & Watches, Clothing & Shoes, Bed N Bath, Lighting & Ceiling Fans categories

Greater Discounts, Higher Prices?

With inflation at a thirty-nine year high, retailers and manufacturers have realized they can command higher prices without impacting demand as consumers have shown their willingness to pay the price, especially when threatened by product scarcity. Our assessment is that while some products and categories have responded drastically, manufacturers’ suggested retail prices (MSRPs) have increased nearly seven percent on average from January to December 2021. MSRP adjustments are not taken lightly either, as this is an indication increased prices will be part of a longer-term shift in product strategy.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com & Target.com each month in 2021 comparing price increases from January 2021 base

Our 2021 pre-Cyber Weekend analysis reviewed MSRP changes for select categories (Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion) on Amazon and Target.com, and found around forty-eight percent of products on Amazon and thirty-five percent of products on Target.com have increased their MSRPs year-over-year, but kept pre-holiday discount percentages the same.

Looking more specifically as to what year-over-year changes occurred on Black Friday in 2021, we observed MSRPs increasing across the board for all categories at various magnitudes. This indicates why 2021 discounts appeared to be greater than or equivalent to 2020 for many categories, when in reality consumers paid a higher price than they would have in 2020 for the same items.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – MSRP Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus average MSRP pricing for the same SKU count from November 20-26th 2021

On Amazon.com, categories like health & beauty have already increase MSRPs by a much greater percentage and magnitude versus Target.com leading up to and during Black Friday 2021, while other categories like furniture have increased MSRPs evenly on average across both retail websites. The below chart cites a few specific examples of year-over-year SKU-level MSRP, promotional price, and discount changes within found within the electronics, furniture, fashion, and health & beauty categories.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – MSRP Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus average MSRP pricing for the same SKUs on Black Friday November 26th, 2020.

Fewer, but Deeper Discounts

From October through early November 2021, fewer products were discounted compared to this same period in 2020, and the few that were saw much deeper discounts apart from the home improvement category. The most extreme example we saw in discounts offered was within furniture where only three percent of SKUs were on discount in 2021 compared to twenty-six percent in 2020. Interestingly, the magnitude of discount was also higher pre-Cyber Weekend 2021 versus 2020, but this trend was not exclusive to furniture and was also seen within electronics, health & beauty, and home improvement.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com & Target.com Pre-Black Friday average selling price during November 20-26th 2021 versus average selling price from November 13-19th 2021 compared to Pre-Black Friday average selling price during November 19-25th 2020 versus average selling price from November 12-18th, 2020.

Within the furniture category, the subcategories offering the greatest number of SKUs with price decreases on Black Friday 2021 were rugs by a wide margin, followed by cabinets, bed and bath, and entertainment units, but the magnitude of discounts offered were all under twenty percent.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com and Target.com on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus average pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 20-26th 2021 and Black Friday November 26th, 2020, versus average pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 19th-25th 2020

Accounting for this phenomenon could have been retailers’ attempts to clear inventory for SKUs which hadn’t sold even during the period of severe supply chain shortages. With more products selling at higher prices this year, retailers were also able to use fewer SKUs with greater discounts to attract buyer in hopes of filling their digital baskets with more full-priced goods, helping to protect margins heading in to Cyber Weekend. Scarcity threats also encouraged consumers to buy early, even when not on promotion, to ensure they would have gifts in time for the holidays.

The same trends seen pre-Cyber Weekend 2021 were also seen on Black Friday with a year-over-year decrease in the percentage of SKUs offered on discount versus 2020, and steeper price reductions for the discounted products which can also be attributed to the increase in MSRPs.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com and Target.com on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus average pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 20-26th 2021 and Black Friday November 26th, 2020, versus average pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 19th-25th 2020

2021 Black Friday Price Increases?

We all know Black Friday is all about price reductions, discounts and deals and so it’s rare to see actual price increases, yet for Black Friday 2021, trends ran counter to this. We observed price increases across all categories for around thirteen to nineteen percent of SKUs, with an average price increase of around fifteen percent in 2021 versus an average of only two percent in 2020.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com and Target.com on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 20-26th 2021 and Black Friday November 26th, 2020, versus average pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 19th-25th 2020

At an account level, we noticed a few interesting differences happening on Black Friday 2021 versus 2020 regarding category price changes. On Target.com, almost ninety percent of the bed and bath SKUs analyzed had a price change on Black Friday in 2021 versus 2020 with eighty-two percent presenting a higher price year-over-year versus only around seven percent showing a decrease, where on Amazon nearly forty-four percent of bed and bath SKUs showed an increase in price and around thirty-eight percent showed a decrease. Except for the health and beauty category on Target.com, more than half of the SKUs in each category saw a price increase on Black Friday versus a price decrease.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com and Target.com on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus average pricing for the same SKUs on Black Friday November 26th, 2020.

The magnitude of year-over-year price changes seen on Black Friday 2021 was significant across all categories, but the magnitude of price increases found on Amazon.com within the health and beauty category outpaced the rest by far. We reviewed three hundred and sixty-five SKUs on Amazon.com within the health & beauty category and saw almost eighty-three percent of them had a price change with around thirty-one percent decreasing prices and around fifty-two percent increasing prices. This means that within the health & beauty category on Amazon.com, more than fifty percent of the SKUs tracked were sold at a one hundred and seventy-six percent higher price on average during Black Friday 2021 versus 2020.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com and Target.com on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus average pricing for the same SKUs on Black Friday November 26th, 2020.

The subcategories offering the greatest number of SKUs with price increases on Black Friday 2021 were cameras, followed by men’s fragrances, laptops, and desktops & accessories, but the magnitude of discounts offered were all under ten percent.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing Insights for Bed & Bath, Electronics, Furniture, Healthy & Beauty, and Fashion categories on Amazon.com and Target.com on Black Friday November 27th, 2021, versus pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 20-26th 2021 and Black Friday November 26th, 2020, versus average pricing for the same SKUs from Pre-Black Friday November 19th-25th 2020

The Aftermath Post-2021 Cyber Weekend

Extending this analysis beyond the holiday weekend, we analyzed price change activity from December third through the ninth across the top US retailers (chart below) and found that price decreases have been very minimal, comparatively speaking. Though there was a spike in number of price decreases from December 8^th to the 9^th, the percentage of SKUs with price decreases was still very low (less than three percent). We anticipate this trend will continue into 2022.

Source: Commerce Intelligence – Pricing insights for Home & Garden, Jewelry & Watches, Clothing & Shoes, Bed N Bath, Lighting & Ceiling Fans categories

A Sign of Things to Come

A confluence of inflationary trends, product shortages and consumer liquidity have driven many marketplace changes to occur simultaneously. Government programs in the form of stimulus checks, have put extra money in consumers’ hands, and so they’ve been more willing to spend. That, coupled with the shock in the supply chain, has motivated people to buy far ahead of the 2021 holiday season. Hence, retailers have needed to rely much less on across-the-board discounts. Promotions have been more strategic – we’ve seen deeper discounts over fewer products, likely used to draw consumers in to buy certain items, and once they’re there, customers are buying everything else at a non-discount level. When these factors once again normalize, we could see a return to the “race to the bottom” that has occurred since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, but for once, retailers may be able to maintain some pricing power as the 2021 holiday shopping season played out.

Even though performance was not as anticipated and holiday sales did not grow as rapidly as they did in 2020, Cyber Monday was still the greatest online shopping day in 2021. Through it all, retailers managed to keep their digital shelves stocked and orders filled in time for the holidays for the most part, running the risk of housing aged inventory if goods didn’t arrive in time. Despite predictions for steep promotions in January 2022, with supply chains still challenged and inflationary pressures still full steam ahead, we don’t anticipate much in the way of enhanced discounts to continue beyond the holidays.

Access to these types of real-time digital marketplace insights can enable retailers and brands to make strategic decisions like how and when to address inflationary pressures, while also supporting many other day-to-day operations and help drive profitable growth in an intensifying competitive environment. Continue to follow us in the coming weeks for a detailed 2021 year-end review across more retailers and categories. Be sure to reach out to our Retail Analytics experts for access to more details regarding the above analysis.

January 4, 2022
Black Friday Prices Tempt Health & Beauty Shoppers

Black Friday looked downright sultry with desirable discounts on health and beauty products.

This year, health and beauty sales faced the threat of declining demand, as the pandemic keeps many consumers cooped up at home and in-store product testers no longer allowed. Yet consumers’ enduring desire to look and feel their best means this category will remain resilient. (Plus, we want to look smokin’ hot on Zoom.)

That’s why we were curious to know how retail rivals, ranging from discounters to department stores, are battling it out to become bodacious beauty destinations to win the hearts, wallets and fake lashes of online shoppers.

To calculate which retailers’ prices offered the broadest and most generous discounts, we examined health and beauty products’ pricing at Amazon, JC Penney, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Overstock, Nordstrom, Target and Walmart. We compared the pre-sale period (November 24-26) to the holiday sales period (Black Friday on November 27 through Cyber Monday on November 30) for a glimpse of retailers’ pricing strategies in this fiercely competitive category.

To gain insights into retailers’ competitive pricing strategies, we tracked three scenarios: whether prices decreased, increased or remained the same during the last week of November 2020. The vast majority of health and beauty products (91.0%) maintained the same prices during the pre-sale and sales periods. An astounding 99.7% of Target’s health and beauty prices stayed the same during the period.

Amazon had the highest proportion of health and beauty products that offered a price decrease (18.1%), particularly on men’s fragrance, women’s fragrance and men’s hair care. Offering discounts on more items hints that Amazon wants to attract more health and beauty consumers, including men, by making more items affordable. Target offered the lowest proportion of health and beauty products with price decreases (0.8%).

Amazon also had the greatest proportion of health and beauty products with a price increase (7.0%) with 15.3% of men’s fragrance earning a price hike.

On Black Friday, among health and beauty products with price decreases, Target gave the most generous average discount (37.6% vs. 7.2% for Overstock). However, Target’s discounts applied to only 12 products compared to 798 for Overstock.

Common types of health and beauty products with the highest average discount on Black Friday have included face makeup, men’s fragrance, men’s hair care, and shampoo and conditioner.

Among health and beauty products with price increases on Black Friday, Nordstrom had the highest average price hike (43.8% on one women’s fragrance) and Walmart offered the lowest (10.3% on 250 products).

These findings suggest that Target was willing to create aggressive loss leaders in this category and Amazon wanted to boost health and beauty sales among male shoppers.

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

This year, most retailers offered more additional discounts on health and beauty products on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday, possibly to prioritize clearing out their inventory before year-end. JC Penney and Macy’s were the exception. Overall, the top product types that received additional discounts included shave and hair removal, women’s fragrance and face makeup.

On Cyber Monday, Amazon offered additional discounts on the greatest proportion of health and beauty products (21.1% vs. 2.1% for Target). Amazon focused on men’s hair care, shampoo and conditioner and face makeup.

Half the retailers (Amazon, JC Penney, Nordstrom and Overstock) offered deeper additional discounts on health & beauty on Cyber Monday than Black Friday, possibly to clear out their inventory before the end of the year. Cyber Monday discounts ranged from 35.0% for Nordstrom to 7.8% for Overstock.

Meanwhile, both Neiman Marcus and Walmart offered the same levels of discounts on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Overall, the types of health and beauty products with the deepest discounts on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday were shampoo and conditioner, men’s hair care and face makeup.

Additional discounts across products by “premiumness” level

For almost all the retailers, the percentage of health and beauty products with additional discounts was higher on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday. Overstock had the highest proportion (20.2%), slightly more than Amazon (20.0%).

JC Penney had a higher percentage of products with additional discounts on Black Friday. Neiman Marcus had the same percentage of products on both sales days.

All the retailers except JC Penney and Neiman Marcus allocated the greatest percentage of their additional discounts to health and beauty products at the high level of premium. The retailers may have wanted to appeal to upscale shoppers and make high premium goods more accessible to a broader audience of consumers.

Half of the retailers (JC Penney, Nordstrom, Target and Walmart) offered deeper discounts on Black Friday than Cyber Monday.

Target offered the most generous discounts on Black Friday with an average additional discount of 39.7%, which ranged from 50.1% on moderately premium health and beauty products to 28.6% for products at a high premium level. Target appeared to make more beauty items, including high premium items, affordable to more consumers to stay competitive as a beauty destination.

Conversely, Amazon, Overstock and Macy’s were more generous with additional discounts on Cyber Monday. Among the high premium level of health and beauty products on Cyber Monday, Macy’s offered the deepest discounts (31.3%), edging out department store rival JC Penney (30.4%) in competing for upscale shoppers.

Health & Beauty’s Ravishing Holiday Prices

This year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday pricing strategies showed retailers’ attempts to stand out, expand their market reach to stay competitive. Appealing to a broader audience included spanning upscale and value tiers, and wooing more male online shoppers to grow their top line and boost loyalty in an intense category amid a pandemic.

Stay tuned for more Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 analysis to discover how retailers strategically price their products to win in leading e-commerce categories.

December 18, 2020