Thanksgiving is just around the corner and so is our other favorite holiday - Black Friday. In the last couple of years, however, another consumer holiday has been gaining popularity - Cyber Monday. On this day, instead of waiting for hours for door busters, buyers choose to shop online and take advantage of the deals offered on the web. Considering the prevalence and convenience of online shopping, we started to wonder where buyers are excited to spend money and whether online or door buster deals are discussed the most on the social web. Are consumers looking forward to lining up in front of stores and getting the instant gratification of the product they purchase, or does the convenience of online shopping outweight the brick & mortar experience. In this presentation, we take a peek into the online dialogue surrounding retail giants such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Sears and more. We will delve into buyers' product & vendor preferences, mode of purchase, and many more. Here is what we’ll do with our social media monitoring tool: • Provide a real time analysis of the online buzz • Take a dive into viewers’ opinions in different geographic locations, and across different social media • Compare volume of conversation between Black Friday 2009 and Black Friday 2010

1. A Great DEAL of Expectations
The Buzz around Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals on Social Media
Presented By: Jim Reynolds
Strategic Account Manager – SM2
@jimmyrey

2. Search Setup In Alterian SM2
Companies: Walmart, Kmart, Sears, JC Penney, Kohls, Macys, Best Buy,
Toys R Us and Target
Topic Focus: Black Friday & Cyber Monday
Date Range(s): 11/1/2009 – 12/3/2009 & 11/1/2010 – 11/19/2010
(We will be collecting data through December 3rd and publish an update shortly after)
Locations / Languages: All Countries & Languages

3. 2009 Daily Volume – All Topics
Analysis
• Total of 50k social
media mentions
• Volume of
conversation picks
up dramatically
Thanksgiving week
and peaks on Black
Friday
• Second largest spike
occurs on Cyber
Monday

4. 2009 Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday
Analysis
• In 2009, Black Friday definitely led the overall conversation with 87.5% of the
chatter

5. 2010 Daily Volume – All Topics
Analysis
• Total of 37k social
media mentions
• Early data
conclusion is that
more people are
talking about both
Black Friday and
Cyber Monday this
year than they were
last year
• The spikes correlate
to early previews of
deals

6. 2010 Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday
Analysis
• In 2010, Black Friday chatter is dominating the overall conversation. This is
expected since promotions have not yet been released or leaked

7. 2009 Share of Voice Total – All Topics
Analysis
• Media Types Other
38% (Primarily deal
sharing sites and
mainstream media)
• Microblogs 27%
(Twitter + Clones)
• Message Boards 16%
(Discussions about
best deals from
retailers)
• The rest amounts to
less than 10%

8. 2009 Share of Voice Trend – All Topics
Analysis
• Media Types Other & Twitter traffic is identical up until Black Friday
• Media Types Other remain active in deal discussion while Twitter traffic simply drops off
• Message boards follow a pattern similar to that of Twitter

9. 2010 Share of Voice Total – All Topics
Analysis
• Microblogs 47%
(Major jump from last
year)
• Message Boards 18%
(over 2% increase
from last year)
• Media Types Other
17% (More than 20%
drop in mentions)
• Social Networks 10%
• All others 5% or less

10. 2010 Share of Voice Trend – All Topics
Analysis
• Microblog mentions spike based on ads or leaks of upcoming deals
• Social Networks appear to follow a nearly identical pattern to Microblogs
• Message boards seem to slowly build momentum as people are discussing deals more
frequently with the approach of Black Friday & Cyber Monday

11. 2009 Retailer Comparison
Analysis
• Walmart: 29%
• BestBuy: 22%
• Target: 18%
• Toys ‘R Us: 8%
• Sears: 6%
• Macy’s: 5%
• Kohl’s: 4.7%
• Kmart: 4%
• JC Penney: 2.5%

12. 2009 Retailer Comparison
Analysis
• Overall, all retailers followed the same patterns in 2009 with pre-Black Friday spikes
correlating to leaks of deals
• On Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Walmart, Best Buy and Target pulled ahead, followed by
Toys ‘R Us

13. 2009 Topic Analysis – Black Friday
Analysis
• Majority of social media chatter was focused on deal-related terms
• Product group mentions focused on Blu-Ray, HDTV & Laptop
• Interesting sub topics around waiting, wait, door buster

14. 2009 Topic Analysis – Cyber Monday
Analysis
• Unlike Black Friday, Cyber Monday was definitely more product-focused with multiple
brand mentions (Nintendo, Apple, Wii)
• Product group mentions focused on games, netbook, laptop

15. 2010 Retailer Comparison
Analysis
• Walmart: 32% UP
• Target: 20% UP
• Best Buy: 19% DOWN
• Sears: 8% UP
• Toys ‘R Us: 7% DOWN
• Kohl’s: 4% DOWN
• Kmart :3.6% DOWN
• Macy’s: 4% DOWN
• JC Penney: 1% DOWN

16. 2010 Retailer Comparison
Analysis
• The overall trend in 2010 is very different than the trend in 2009 so far; there is a lot
more activity as deals start to leak
• As we get closer to Black Friday/Cyber Monday, we predict that the race will be between
Walmart, Best Buy and Target

17. 2010 Topic Analysis – Black Friday
Analysis
• Majority of social media chatter is focused on Target and Walmart, with other large
topics centered on deals
• Product group mentions focused on mobile phones (new for 2010), appliances (new for
2010), games (new for 2010), Laptop and HDTV

18. 2010 Topic Analysis – Cyber Monday
Analysis
• Early Cyber Monday chatter is focused on signing up for access to sneak peeks of Cyber
Monday deals
• Similar to 2009 topics, Cyber Monday is definitely more product-focused than is Black
Friday

19. Summary
Overall
• People seem to love sharing and discussing deals in social media. From reviewing
the data, we can conclude that consumers enjoy the hunt of a great price just as
much as getting a great deal
• As highlighted by the analysis for 2010, people are using social media to identify
the best deals and are not afraid to mention products by name. This could be a
huge opportunity for assertive companies to market products in social media
around the holiday season
• As data continues to update, feel free to watch along via our public dashboards
• 2010 Retailers – Ranking mentions of all retailers hourly
• http://bit.ly/2010retailers
• 2009 vs. 2010 Black Friday, Cyber Monday - Ranking cumulative mentions &
social media channels of Black Friday & Cyber Monday hourly
• http://bit.ly/2010blackfriday
• http://bit.ly/2010cybermonday