America's Exports: International Spending More Than Triples During Black Friday Weekend as Global Shoppers Take Advantage of U.S. Deals

NEW YORK --(Business Wire)--

FiftyOne Global Ecommerce (www.fiftyone.com), the market leader in global ecommerce solutions, today released data and survey findings showing that international sales more than tripled at U.S. retailers as consumers in over 100 countries around the world opened their wallets to take part in this past week's Black Friday (News - Alert) and Cyber Monday holiday shopping specials.

Increasingly, U.S. retailers have positioned themselves to expand their reach and grow sales beyond their U.S. borders, especially during the critical holiday shopping season. In addition to enabling international shoppers to take advantage of deals previously available only to American shoppers, over 35 top U.S. retail brands offered additional in-country promotions - taking further action to grow sales and tap international desire for U.S. brands.

"More global consumers than ever before logged on to shop U.S. retailers this past Black Friday through Cyber Monday (News - Alert) shopping weekend, and for the first time, FiftyOne saw a majority of its merchants actively market to and engage their international audience," said Michael DeSimone, CEO, FiftyOne. "The international opportunity is immense, and FiftyOne partners with American retailers to extend their ecommerce operations, build brand awareness, and grow sales in over 100 countries worldwide."

Global Black Friday/Cyber Monday by the Numbers

Most Active Countries
- Colombian residents took the most advantage of the weekend sales, spending more than 11 times, or 1,086% the average daily spend during the four-day shopping holiday.
- Residents in Israel and Ireland spent seven times the average, followed by Mexico (more than six times the average spend), South Korea (five times), and Russia, and China (more than four times).
What International Consumers Bought
- International consumers spent the most money at Luxury Department Stores, spending on average $337 per transaction.
- Other top categories shopped include Fashion Retailers & Brands ($171 per transaction), Discount retailers ($136 per transaction) and Shoe retailers ($133 per transaction).
- Top categories were apparel for men, women, and children; shoes; and home goods.
Why International Consumers Shopped
- International consumers shopped primarily for themselves and friends and family (45%) followed by consumers shopping only for themselves (33%) and only for friends and family (22%).
- Although most customers did not start out with a shopping list for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, 37% of women and 50% of men ended up spending more than expected.
How international consumers learned about Black Friday and Cyber Monday
- Email marketing from retailers was the top driver of awareness and purchasing of U.S. brands (79%).
- Other drivers of awareness were online advertising (34%), social media (16%) and friends and family (13%).
How International Consumers Shopped
- 27% of international shoppers said they completed at least one purchase during the shopping weekend on a mobile device (smartphone and/or tablet).
Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday
- Interestingly, Black Friday and Cyber Monday share equal awareness internationally, with the number of purchases and average order value remaining close to the same over both days.

International sales data was collected over a four-day period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Consumer insights were collected from a poll that included 4,386 adults from 90 countries around the world surveyed online between November 27-28, 2012 by FiftyOne.

About FiftyOne

New York City-based FiftyOne Global Ecommerce is the recognized market leader in international ecommerce, operating a technology and services platform that enables U.S. retailers to transact with customers in more than 100 countries and more than 60 currencies worldwide. FiftyOne manages all aspects of international orders including multi-currency pricing and payment processing, landed cost calculation, customs clearance and brokerage, international fraud management, international logistics orchestration, and customer-experience parity. For more information, visit www.fiftyone.com.