Worldwide record Black Friday sales… but record losses too?

Hi again 👋

This week businesses are celebrating their record Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) week sales.

But the number almost no one is talking about… is how much was lost because some customers simply couldn’t complete their purchase.

Salesforce reports that shoppers spent roughly $336.6 billion online globally over BFCM this year.

That is huge!

However - the 2019 Click-Away Pound survey found that around 10 percent of UK online spend goes elsewhere because customers with access needs hit barriers they can’t get past.

Nobody has run that survey worldwide. But if the same rate held across the global BFCM number, that’s something close to $34 billion moving to whoever was easier to buy from - in a single week.

What does this mean for you?

Take your own Black Friday or Cyber Monday revenue.

Ten percent of that is your “what if” number - the number that answers what if your site had worked for everyone?

What would that look like for your business?

This isn’t an exact science, and your mileage will vary. The point isn’t the precise figure - but the risk is very real.

Unless you’re 100% confident your product pages and purchase journey are accessible, you’re almost certainly leaving money on the table.

So a simple question for this week:

When was the last time you checked your store for accessibility barriers?

If the answer is “I don’t know” or “we’ve never done that”, then you don’t need a perfect model to see the risk.

Some of your customers tried to buy from you this Black Friday… and went to your accessible competitor instead.

If you want to do a quick self-check, here’s where to start: https://davedavies.dev/start-here/product-page-accessibility-guide/

Talk soon,
Dave

P.S. Thanks for reading - have a great rest of your day.