The Winners and Losers of Black Friday 2012

The two words that make shoppers stay up all night and businesses leap for joy… “Black Friday“. The non-holiday that comes once every year, yet still brings the biggest promotions and crazy stories year after year. Black Friday is no longer just for people who want to wake up at midnight for insane savings, thanks to many stores like KMart, Sears, Walmart and others who started their Black Friday promotions as early as 8 PM on Thanksgiving night, while others continued to open through out the night and early morning.

So who were the big winners from this years Black Friday and how did the big name companies fare against each other? SilverPop came out with a nice infographic that details all of the information and breaks down the top retailers among Twitter postings and check-ins.

The Winners…

Here are the top-10 retailers with the most check-ins during Black Friday 2012.

1. Target
2. Walmart
3. Best Buy
4. Macy’s
5. Apple Store
6. Sears
7. Kmart
8. Costco
9. Sam’s Club
10. Walgreens

Starbucks, McDonalds and Target were also at the top of their own list for “Top 10 Businesses with Most Check-Ins“. It’s no surprise to see Starbucks and McDonalds top the list, as everyone was anxious to get their coffee to keep their bodies and minds running through the crazy night and shopping madness!

The Losers…

There really are no losers when it comes to Black Friday, except of course if you are one of the shoppers who was pummeled while trying to get a huge flat screen TV for a few bucks!

However if there are any losers from a marketing stand point, it’s really anyone who hasn’t been taking advantage of the sheer power of Black Friday and the amount of business that is done. This year it was projected that over $60 billion was spent during Black Friday and another $1.5 billion during Cyber Monday. The question is… how much of this mega spending did you benefit from?

Jennine Rexon of Rextopia sent out a mailing to all of her affiliates on how she was able to generate over a million dollars in revenue in just a weeks time thanks to Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions!

Timing is everything. It is imperative that you note seasonal trends to ensure you are promoting the best converting campaigns.  Right now its holiday season.  Last Friday was Black Friday, Monday was Cyber Monday and this week, many sales are continuing.  Take advantage of holiday offers in Rextopia to maximize your earnings!

I run most of the offers in our network, on purpose.  Not to compete with you, but to ensure our offers work for a majority of affiliates and I can give you tips to help you succeed. Please use me as a resource so that you too can have $1 Million weeks.

Holidays and trends in the market place are no brainers for making money. You have a whole year to prepare, and you know there is a ton of money for you to get your hands on. If you missed out on the massive money to be made during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, don’t get down on yourself too much… there is still Christmas and New Years, which are the best times to promote shopping and new year’s resolutions related offers (non-smoking, weight loss).

Start Preparing for Next Year

The best time to prepare for the coming holidays and massive spending of next year is right now. You will never be able to compete with the big names and brands if you start your promotions and week or month before Black Friday and Cyber Monday when they arrive next year. Start planning your blogs, web sites and ad campaigns right now. See what promotions and ad campaigns are working right now, and how you can implement some of the same ideas to make sure you are ready next year.

It’s not just the fourth quarter of the year that brings in all of the money… also look into key holidays and events like Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, Halloween and Back to School shopping. There are many businesses and web sites that wait the whole year for these events to come around to generate all of the income and profits. Will you be ready for next year?

Don’t forget to check out one of my previous posts titled “Holiday Sales Trends and How to Profit from Them“, which goes into some great detail on the money being spent/made during some of these hot holidays and events!