Evidence from commerce search advertising business HookLogic shows consumers jumping online at midnight to snap up Black Friday deals.

conversion tracker

The finding adds to further evidence that the annual shopping frenzy has moved increasingly online this year.

“Across the HookLogic network – covering Asda, Argos, Boots, Curry’s, PC World – we saw on Black Friday 3.5x on traffic and just below 5x on conversion compared to baseline data,” notes Ben Cooper, managing director at HookLogic.

The index shows buying activity – measured by transactions – across those retailers in the HookLogic network. It is compiled using the previous month as a baseline. In this instance the index measures the November 26-29 period, by hour, against the same hourly average in October.

“One of the most interesting observations from the traffic patterns we’re seeing is the emergence of the midnight shopper – between midnight and 2am, traffic was 40x baseline and conversion was 100x baseline as deal-hungry shoppers got online to bag a deal.”

“This fell back until 6.30am before continuing to build strongly ever since. The shopping activity has been truly phenomenal and we’re expecting this to continue to ramp into the evening,” added Cooper.

Methodology

Transactions are completed purchases, or check-outs. The Conversion Rate Index is a measure of how intent shoppers are. It is calculated by dividing Transactions (or check-outs) by Traffic (product page views), then indexing against the relevant baseline. 

This index baseline is calculated off the October daily and hourly averages across the UK retailers in the HookLogic network. It shows a “typical” day and hour of browsing and buying activity before these holiday increases.