More people searched for “Walmart Black Friday Sales” than “Amazon Black Friday Sales” this season
Running Point and its chief investment officer, Michael Ashley Schulman, CFA, were quoted by International Business Times in an article—by Panos Mourdoukoutas, “Walmart Beats Amazon At Its Own Game On Black Friday”—regarding Walmart outpacing Amazon in online searches for Black Friday Sales.
“Walmart, as well as Target and Best Buy, are playing into the group entertainment value of shopping in ways that Amazon can’t.”
For multiple reasons, Walmart solidly beat Amazon on Google Trends for the search terms “…Black Friday” and “…Black Friday Sales” as shown in the charts below over a 90 day period through November 24, 2022.
—
Chart 1: Google search trends chart of “Amazon Black Friday”, “Walmart Black Friday”, “Target Black Friday”, and “Kohl’s Black Friday” over a 90 day period through November 24, 2022.
—
Chart 2: Google search trends chart of “Amazon Black Friday Sales”, “Walmart Black Friday Sales“, “Target Black Friday Sales“, and “Kohl’s Black Friday Sales” over a 90 day period through November 24, 2022.
—
Quoted article excerpts are below:
Walmart’s lead in Internet searches for merchandise on the year’s busiest shopping day didn’t surprise retail industry observers like Michael Ashley Schulman, who attributed Walmart’s brief lead to a confluence of events involving marketing, families, competition, and fewer COVID worries.
“A crucial differentiator for Walmart is that consumers are much more willing to shop in-store versus a year ago,” Schulman told International Business Times in an email. “Thus, more people are planning for their in-person Black Friday holiday shopping excursions together as a family, something they can’t do at Amazon. Walmart, as well as Target and Best Buy, are playing into the group entertainment value of shopping in ways that Amazon can’t.”
“Walmart has stepped up its marketing game in 2022 across TV, streaming, social media, billboards, PR, online, newspapers, and magazines,” said Schulman. “And will add an estimated 40,000 new sellers to its Walmart Marketplace this year, thus making it seem a more attractive all-around destination this year.”
Schulman said there’s one more thing that probably hurt Amazon’s Black Friday season this year: their second Prime Day (Prime Early Access Sale) on Oct. 11-12.
“It may have created consumer fatigue with Amazon, especially since many deals and discounts were not as spectacular as usual,” Schulman said.
Disclosure: The opinions expressed are those of Running Point Capital Advisors, LLC (Running Point) and are subject to change without notice. The opinions referenced are as of the date of publication, may be modified due to changes in the market or economic conditions, and may not necessarily come to pass. Forward-looking statements cannot be guaranteed. Running Point is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about Running Point’s investment advisory services and fees can be found in its Form ADV Part 2, which is available upon request. RP-22-68
