• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 26, 2019

Searches for Black Friday spiked 31 days prior to the official kickoff this weekend -- more than 18 days earlier than 2018, according to recent data.

Captify has logged about 72.3 million Black Friday searches and 27.2 million unique users searching for the term.

This year, so far, more than 46% of Black Friday searches were brand-specific -- up three times more compared with last year, as shoppers seem to know the types of products they want before brands and retailers announce deals. 

Captify collected the data from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, 2018, and then Oct. 1 - Nov. 21, 2019, from 41 billion monthly searches the company captured across premium publishers.

Interestingly, the data identifies two key types of consumers searching for Black Friday-related items. Super Searchers, the brand fanatics and loyalists who searched on the same brand name more than 12 times from October through November 2019.

This consumer is three times more likely than others to search for consumer technology, with Apple, Bose, and Microsoft on the list as the three top searched-for brands. More than 89% of their Black Friday searches are on desktop, with few searches across mobile and tablet. They are most likely to search in the mornings and late at night. 

Then there are the deal-savvy searchers -- the ones who have brand loyalty and focus on offers. This audience searched for more than nine different brands.

Toys and gaming seem to be the biggest category for this audience, with PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox on the list for the top three searched brands.

Deal-savvy searchers make 63% of their Black Friday searches on mobile, suggesting that they look for deals on the go.

The top categories and brands took 75% of the Black Friday searches -- more than six times the search volume of the second-highest category—gaming and toys.

In the consumer tech category, Apple took more than 49% of consumer tech searches around Black Friday, beating tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Samsung.

Amazon has lost a significant amount of search share within the consumer tech category compared with 2018. Searches for the brand fell by 81%.

For the first time, Captify sees automotive among the top searched-for categories related to Black Friday. Hyundai leads, taking more than 90%of Black Friday searches for auto, while searches for games and toys fell 156% year-over-year.

Dyson stepped up as a major rival in fashion and beauty. Searches rose 524%YoY, likely due to the rising popularity of the airwrap and other hair tools.