Black Friday and the 2024 holiday season showed mixed results. On one hand, there was a decline in mobile app downloads, while on the other, there was a significant increase in daily active users among leading advertisers.
The mobile segment continued to lead, as mobile devices accounted for 69% of global sales.
More details on the results of Holiday shopping and Black Friday 2024 below.
In 2024, Black Friday activity decreased due to the growing popularity of early promotions before the main holiday season. Many retailers began their campaigns in October and early November to compensate for the shortened holiday season, which was the shortest in the last five years.
Despite the overall increase in digital revenue, this trend affected mobile app downloads in US retail.
According to Sensor Tower, downloads during key “Black Friday weekend” days in the US decreased by:
Additionally, web traffic in the first week of November 2024 dropped by 5%, contradicting the growth trends of previous years. As noted by Queue-it, consumers realized that early deals are often maintained or even improved later in the season.
According to Sensor Tower, Black Friday 2024 saw a significant increase in DAU (Daily Active Users) among leading advertisers:
This growth was accompanied by higher conversion rates, particularly for retailers running active campaigns.
Mobile devices, as expected, remained the primary shopping channel. On Black Friday, they accounted for 69% of global sales.
In Black Friday 2024, electronics retailers once again captured the largest share of holiday season web traffic, accounting for 60% of total traffic, up from 53% in 2023.
Health and beauty stores surpassed clothing and accessories retailers in traffic volume, claiming the second spot in popularity.
Here’s the traffic breakdown by category:
These trends align with Criteo’s predictions, which highlighted growing consumer interest in new electronics brands and their willingness to spend.
We covered these insights before the season began.
In 2024, mobile traffic continued to grow during Cyber Five:
For the entire holiday season (November 1–December 19), mobile accounted for 59% of all traffic. The highest mobile traffic was recorded on December 6, reaching 79% of activity.
During Black Friday, shoppers were actively buying both discounted and full-price items.
Discounts varied by category:
Despite higher sales for discounted items (e.g., TVs with an 11% discount sold 693% more than earlier in November), non-discounted products also performed well, with sales of full-price TVs up by 463%.
This demonstrates that Black Friday drives consumer spending beyond just discounts.
In Europe, online transactions during Black Friday and the holiday season increased by 10% compared to 2023.
However, despite the rise in purchases, consumer spending decreased by 4%, indicating a shift toward more affordable products. This trend was observed consistently across Germany, the UK, France, and across 28 European countries.
Despite the decline in spending, all product categories showed triple-digit growth, although the increase was less significant compared to the previous year.
Mobile advertising is the perfect way to engage users without overwhelming them with information. We’ve been perfecting in-app advertising for over 9 years, proving its effectiveness in real-world campaigns.
Check out our case studies on the website and contact us to launch your successful campaign.
Found this helpful? Share it with your friends and colleagues!
For consultations and partnership inquiries: