Bot Strategy Of Holding Inventory In Carts Skews Metrics, Overwhelms Servers

More consumers plan to shop on Black Friday compared with Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday, according to data released Thursday from Jungle Scout. 

Fifty-seven percent of consumers say they will shop on Black Friday, compared to 43% on Cyber Monday and 20% on Small Business Saturday.

About 18% of consumers do not plan to shop during any of these retail events.

Jungle Scout says the percentages for Cyber Monday include online and in stores. 

In-store shopping will slightly edge out online shopping this year. This may a positive factor, according to cybersecurity firm CHEQ's estimate, based on analysis of 233 million ecommerce site visits.

Advertisers in aggregate will experience a $368 million loss to fake clicks on retail ads to drain budgets, skew metrics and commit malicious acts, bots/faker users frequently click on online ads, CHEQ says.

The security firm also estimates that 46 million organic shoppers will be fake users, and $3.3 billion will be lost to bots abandoning carts.

This bot strategy of holding inventory in a cart skews metrics, and overwhelms servers that can make purchases more difficult for real customers to complete.

Gift cards will be less popular this year, compared with last year, according to Jungle Scout. Here’s how:

  • 59% plan to give a physical product such as clothing, electronics, and jewelry, compared to 65% of consumers in 2021
  • 49% plan to give a gift card, compared with 65% of consumers in 2021
  • 29% plan to give a virtual product like Netflix or Spotify subscription, virtual gym membership, Masterclass membership, compared with 27% of consumers in 2021
  • 23% plan to give physical product delivery/subscription-box services such as Blue Apron, book-of-the-month club, beauty box, compared to 22% of consumers in 2021

When Jungle Scout survey participants were asked about their strategy for buying gifts.

  • 56% said they search for deals and discounts
  • 40% said they like to surprise the recipients with gifts they didn’t ask for or expect to receive
  • 28% said they tend to shop for specific brands
  • 19% said they buy gifts based on ideas they get from social media

 

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