• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 5, 2019

U.S. shoppers geared up for the holidays by searching on Black Friday for socks, down jackets, and shoes, while also researching Christmas trees and high-ticket items such as TVs.

Vans, which earlier this week closed its corporate office in Costa Mesa, California as it encouraged employees to celebrate creativity, took the distinction of becoming the top searched-for brand among Bloomreach clients.  

The shoe brand is one of the most-searched terms in the U.S. Socks led the list, with TV, light down jacket, Vans, and Christmas tree following close behind.

"There weren’t any big surprises, but one thing we did see is people were up late shopping on Thanksgiving, digesting more than their meals," said Brian Walker, chief strategy officer at Bloomreach and former commerce analyst at Forrester. 

Consumers were getting a jump on their shopping -- and it appears they were looking more for practical gifts.

Pointing to some of the standout data, he said, “Xbox fell out of favor and we saw the impact of Star Wars and Frozen on merchandising.”

The biggest mover in the U.S. year-over-year in terms of searches reflects the hype of the upcoming Star Wars movie, as themed merchandise moved up 30 places compared with last year. But despite the Baby Yoda buzz, Harry Potter’s brand is more popular than Star Wars.

Among searches for U.S. luxury brands, Gucci topped the list as the most popular.

The data also shows a significant increase in mobile traffic. But while people are searching, they are not necessarily buying. Socks, flannel pajamas, jeans, holiday cards, and wireless earbuds were the most-purchased items, and not necessarily on a smartphone.

Black Friday mobile traffic in 2019 continued to grow in both the U.S. and U.K., with mobile spending in the U.S. growing at 17% YoY and remaining roughly flat in the U.K., suggesting shoppers may have been reluctant to convert on deals.

Sales growth on the desktop web in the U.S. was nearly equal to mobile sales growth.

Mobile now accounts for two-thirds of Black Friday traffic in the U.S., while in the U.K it was even higher. U.K. shoppers were much more likely to purchase on their mobile device compared with U.S. shopper. The U.S. saw a significant increase in mobile shopping in 2019, but 60% of purchases are still done via desktop computers and web browsers.

As for the U.K., slippers, dressing gowns, Christmas pajamas, socks, and dash cam were the most-searched terms, with the major movers being socks and Christmas tree.