FITA NEWS
By
Fit Analytics
Nov 11, 2017
4 min read
Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t just bargain bonanzas for shoppers each year, they’re also anxious days for the e-commerce teams charged with keeping the whole show on the road. With the sheer volume of online sales taking place during these crucial few days, the slightest mistake can make all the difference between a good year and a great year.
At Fit Analytics, we’re proud of our track record in providing a first-class user experience when the chips are down. The largest apparel companies on earth trust us to solve sizing at scale during this essential part of the retail year, and we’re delighted to have once again over-delivered for our sizing partners during Cyber Week 2017.
Before we get into the details of our own performance this year, though, let’s start with a quick overview of how the wider market fared.
2017: Another Record Black Friday and Cyber Monday Worldwide
While individual firms may have fallen slightly short of analyst or industry expectations, it’s clear that brands and retailers are still pushing at an open door when it comes to online apparel. As with previous years, 2017 has seen record numbers being posted in major markets across the board.
Despite a backdrop of ongoing Brexit-related uncertainty, online sales in the UK were up a healthy 6% overall for Black Friday thanks, in part, to wide-ranging attractive discounts from firms such as ASOS. As usual, Drapers is your go-to source for a deeper dive into the UK numbers.
Turning to the States, Adobe estimates pointed to this year’s Cyber Monday being the largest online sales day in history with a 16.8% year-on-year increase in sales driven heavily by mobile.
While the topline numbers look extremely healthy, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for the apparel industry. Traditional retail stores, for example, are still feeling the 2017 pinch, and worries over discounting continue to spread in particular verticals such as luxury. Amazon, meanwhile, is causing ongoing alarm as the sheer scale of its apparel ambitions becomes ever more obvious.
Overall, though, it’s hard to argue that the kickoff to 2017’s holiday season was anything other than positive. On that cheery note, let’s move on to look at highlights of how our own Fit Finder performed when put to the ultimate test.
Fit Finder Cyber Week in Numbers
First things first – we’re delighted to report that it’s been another outstanding year for our flagship product Fit Finder! Thanks in huge part to excellent Cyber Week promotions from blue-chip partners such as ASOS and The North Face, Fit Finder enjoyed record days throughout Thanksgiving week.
One of the core reasons the world’s best apparel firms trust us to deliver on sizing is Fit Finder’s bulletproof performance, even when under tremendous load. From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday this year, we handled truly internet-scale volumes of traffic – over three-quarter of a billion pageviews – across over seventy countries worldwide with 100% uptime.
Sizing partners can also expect to feel the benefit of those numbers throughout December where our impact on returns is the seasonal gift that truly keeps giving.
Stay Tuned for a Tremendous 2018!
We’ve invested significant resources in making sure all clients have access to exactly the same world-class infrastructure that powers the numbers listed above. As a Fit Analytics sizing partner, you can be confident your site is perfectly prepared for the biggest retail days of the year, and focus all your efforts on attracting and delighting shoppers.
We’re also looking forward to announcing a significantly expanded product suite early in 2018 which will allow us to deliver even more value to the apparel industry. Stay tuned for further details or get in touch with us today to start discussing how we can help you sell more profitably in 2018 and long beyond!
To learn more about how we can help you and support your specific needs Contact us.
