Spiking Black Friday & Cyber Monday Searches on Bing

In addition to just releasing our Bing End of Year Search Trends yesterday, we also saw some interesting spikes in search terms over the big holiday shopping weekend, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The following data reflects search terms with a higher than normal spike in volume.

Black Friday Spiking Search Terms:

• Searches for retailers spiked on Black Friday, including Toys R Us, Best Buy, Target, Old Navy, Macys, Wal Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, Costco, Radio Shack, Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Sephora, Menards, Office Depot, Barnes & Noble, Sam’s Club, Babies R Us, Bass Pro Shop, Gap, Big Lots, Abercrombie & Fitch, OfficeMax, Sports Authority, Forever 21, and JC Penney’s.
• Spiking consumer electronics search terms included laptops, tablet computers, flat screen TVs, digital cameras, iPad 2, and “electronics under $50”
• Toy-related searches that spiked over Black Friday included radio-controlled toys, Legos and learning toys
• Fashion-related searches that spiked included leather boots, heeled clogs, little black dresses, fragrances, Louis Vuitton and dress shirts.
• Entertainment also was top of mind in people’s searches with spiking entertainment search terms including Adam Sandler SNL Turkey Song and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• Shipping and mailing-related searches showing an increase include UPS and UPS tracking, Fed Ex and Fed Ex tracking, USPS and Christmas cards.
• Also, reflecting that people online on Black Friday were already prepping for Cyber Monday steals, the search terms of Cyber Monday, Cyber Monday 2011, Cyber Monday ads, and Cyber Monday Deals all spiked over the weekend.

Cyber Monday Spiking Search Terms:

In addition to many search term carry-overs from Black Friday, the following terms spiked on Cyber Monday including:

• Searches for specific retailers’ Cyber Monday specials spiked for retailers including Wal Mart, Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Apple and Sears. Other retailers spiking on Cyber Monday include Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, Lane Bryant, Eddie Bauer, Bath & Body Works and Walgreens.
• Consumer electronics searches spiking yesterday included LCD televisions, GPS, home theater, camcorders, Blu-Ray, iPhone, and Kindle Fire.
• Toy and game related searches spiking on Cyber Monday included Call of Duty Elite, electric scooter and Barbie dolls.
• Fashion-related searches that escalated on Cyber Monday included handbags, Chanel, leather jackets, women’s sterling silver jewelry, men’s Citizen watches, chemise, diamond bracelets, birthstone rings, and cashmere sweaters.
• Other gift-related searches spiking on Cyber Monday included cat condo, knife sets, cookware, waffle makers, gift ideas, and Hanukkah gifts.
• And headline grabbing news reflecting the darker side of holiday shopping resulted in a spike for the search term, “pepper sprayed shoppers."

For more information on how Bing can help you make your holiday shopping easy, please visit www.bing.com/shopping. And check out tomorrow’s #BingIt twitter event with savings expert, Andrea Deckard from 12-1 PM Pacific for even more tips for holiday shopping savings.

Happy (and safe) shopping!

-- Kari Dilloo, Bing Team