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Oxylabs reveals manipulative pricing trends during major shopping events
Many consumers believe they are scoring a great deal during
Black Friday , Cyber Monday or other major shopping events – but are they ? A new study from Oxylabs , a leading provider of web intelligence solutions , reveals that over 70 % of products in major US marketplaces were actually more expensive on Black Friday compared to the week before .
Oxylabs tracked the prices of 61,172 products across two major US e-commerce marketplaces from August 13 to November 29 , 2024 ,
using its Web Scraper API . The research focused on bestselling items across various categories , including video games , toys , electronics , home and kitchen appliances , sports and outdoor equipment , clothing , beauty products and office supplies . Pricing data has been observed on an hourly basis .
“ We set out to analyse how the prices of various products fluctuated in the lead-up to Black Friday . Contrary to the aggressive advertising of massive savings , many of the items we examined were actually priced highest on Black Friday . This suggests that relying on major shopping events for the best deals may not be the smartest strategy ,” said Rytis Ulys , Head of Data & Analytics at Oxylabs .
In the first marketplace it analysed , the discounted Black Friday price was the lowest price during the entire week prior to Black Friday in only 28 % of cases . The remaining 72 % of deals were not saving consumers any money . Looking into prices during the whole research duration , Oxylabs ’ team found that about one in 10 products were cheaper or cost the same earlier in the autumn .
Three in five UK consumers are ‘ silently loyal ’ to brands
Almost three in five ( 58 %) UK consumers are ‘ silently loyal ’ to brands – regularly purchasing from them while never recommending them publicly . That ’ s according to the latest research from SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement . The SAP Emarsys ’ Customer Loyalty Index ( CLI ), surveying more than 2,000 UK consumers , has revealed that so called ‘ silent loyalty ’ has increased among UK consumers since 2022 , from 56 % to 58 % in 2024 .
Unsurprisingly , it can be hard to know why a silently loyal customer keeps coming back . But according to SAP Emarsys research , with 52 % of customers leaving a brand due to just one bad experience , these silent customers deserve to be nurtured .
One brand which exemplifies attracting this type of ‘ silent loyalty ’ is Feel Good Contacts ( FGC ). While the one-stop-shop for affordable eyewear ’ s prescription glasses customers are likely to be vocal brand advocates , its contact lens customers are often silently loyal consumers forming a stable foundation of their business through consistent repeat purchases . Shoppers will quietly and consistently return for essential products like contact lenses without necessarily recommending them publicly .
The SAP Emarsys platform is infused with AI which empowers the marketing team at FGC to identify which customers to prioritise for building deeper loyalty . By reaching these customers on the right channels , creating personalised , two-way interactions and tailoring messages to individual needs , SAP Emarsys enabled FGC to achieve nearly a quarter ( 24 %) of its monthly orders through its mobile app .
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