The rise of Black Friday in Germany

After a successful debut, Black-Friday.de was born and has grown from 300,000 unique visitors in 2014 over Black Friday and the Cyber weekend, to 2.3 million in 2017 during the same period. Simon shares more about the history of Black Friday in Germany and how the business is preparing for the big day in 2018.

How has Black Friday been adopted in your local market? Has it had a big impact upon your own business?

The impact on our business is huge, without Black Friday our website wouldn´t even exist. Since the launch of our web page in 2012, Black Friday in Germany has developed incredibly and is well-accepted by retailers and customers. First and foremost we notice this in the constantly increasing number of visitors to our website in the Black Friday month, November. Starting with 65,000 in the first year, the number of unique visitors has repeatedly multiplied over the last years, up to 2.3 million in November 2017.

In addition, we are seeing a significant increase in interest on the advertiser side. In the early years Black Friday was just another event where a standard voucher was offered. But in recent years we have seen more and more the willingness of retailers to see Black Friday as what it is - a unique chance to entice existing customers and new customers into their shop, using a thoughtful and coordinated discount promotion, tuning in to the following Christmas business too.

Tell us about how your company is preparing for Black Friday 2018.

As partnership requests from retailers and advertisers reach us earlier and earlier, we have to start setting up conditions and requirements for deal-submissions in June. Then it is time to coordinate more than 300 deals and promotions, which our partners provide us each year. In the critical phase from September to November, we are busy preparing the publication of the offers so that everything is ready and set for the big day end of November.

What do you think of global retail events like Black Friday? Are they a positive thing for your business or do they make your job harder?

For us, Black Friday is of course a very positive event. We particularly like the global nature of the event, because that way the different markets can benefit from each other and inspire each other. An additional advantage for global brands is that Black Friday deals only have to be planned once and then can be used across markets.

How do you think Black Friday and the wider Cyber Weekend are evolving? What do you think these events will look like in the future?

We think that the Black Friday and the Cyber Weekend will continue growing and become more popular in the coming years. By international comparison, we are still pretty much at the beginning with Black Friday in Germany. We are very excited and are looking to the future with positive expectations.

What one tip would you give to fellow companies participating in Black Friday activity this year?

Consider running a good Black Friday promotion and submit your deal at Black-Friday.de.

Check out the rest of our Black Friday insights on our hub. Have you entered our Black Friday competition yet? Predict how much revenue Awin will generate on Black Friday 2018 for your chance to win a cash prize. Details here.