According to a report by Adobe Analytics, consumers spent more than $9 billion dollars just in US online sales on Black Friday 2019. This was the most second most successful day for American online retailers coming in behind Cyber Monday in the same year. The following year was also record-breaking for e-commerce in the US, where 100 million consumers shopped online.

Black Friday around the world
The popularity of Black Friday has also spread to Europe in recent years. In France, retailing giants such as Apple and Amazon have embraced the occasion, offering discounts of up to 85%.

According to a Centre for Retail Research study, German customers spend around €1.3 billion during the four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

In Romania, P3 customer eMag imported the concept in 2011 and it has grown in popularity since, with more than 11 million Romanians making purchases during the shopping period.

The rise of Cyber Monday
The term Cyber Monday, a neologism invented in 2005, refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday based on a trend that retailers began to recognize in 2003 and 2004. Retailers noticed that many consumers, who were too busy to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend or did not find what they were looking for, shopped for bargains online that Monday from home or work.

Some commentators have gone so far as to state: “If you want a real deal, stay away from the malls on Black Friday. Cyber Monday offers better deals, with more convenience”.

Accelerating eCommerce
This sentiment is highlighted by eCommerce penetration trends. Experts estimate that the effects of the pandemic have accelerated the adoption of eCommerce as the ‘normal way to buy’ by at least five years.

In 2020, the total worth of European ecommerce grew to €757 billion. This is a 10% growth from €690 billion in 2019. Western Europe achieved the highest share of total European eCommerce turnover with 64%. Southern Europe holds 16% of the total turnover. In terms of growth, Eastern Europe shined in 2020 with a rate of 46%, while Western Europe’s growth rate remained moderate at 4%. The growth rates of Central and Southern Europe were somewhat equal, 28% and 24% respectively.

Supply Chain Management
To capitalize on these trends, retailers are actively streamlining their supply-side activities to maximize customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This is a delicate balancing game between being efficient and being responsive, where retailers must seek every advantage to optimize their supply chain, the logistics element within that and, crucially, where and how they store and distribute their products.

As an investor, developer, manager and long-term owner of industrial and logistics real estate across continental Europe P3 invests into and manages high quality assets; develops sustainable properties in key locations to meet customer needs; and remain long-term owners of the assets.

Our boots on the ground approach means that we have dedicated local teams responsible for all aspects of property, asset and investment management.

Which is why we say that we create space that adds long-term, sustainable value to our customers, shareholders and the communities where we operate.