The Dark History of Black Friday
Top BFCM ideas, Rivian vans now available, DD AOV
GM, (good morning) can you believe it’s finally almost BFCM (Black Friday, Cyber Monday)?! TG!!!! (Thank goodness, or you know… Thanksgiving.)
Annoying acronyms aside, this is an incredibly important period for anyone that sells just about anything. So, we’ve got a few last second promo ideas below, followed by Rivian’s eVan going on sale to the general public (maybe ask Santa for one,) and then some DoorDash AOV data. And last but not least, we dive into the unexpected history of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
This newsletter will be taking the rest of the week off, returning on Cyber Monday, giving you all the more time to prep for your own sales…
Today:
Restaurants & Grocers Roll Out BFCM Promos Early
Rivian Opens Electric Van Sales to All
Chart Time | DoorDash AOV Stalls
Black Friday’s Unusual History
PROMOS | Grocers, Restos Roll Out BFCM Savings
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner (and let’s be honest, the sales have already started…) a number of delivery-oriented brands have lifted the veil on their promotional strategies. Giant Eagle, the country’s 40th largest grocer, is quintupling perks on gift cards, adding bigger fuel discounts, handing out donuts, and giving a bigger treat for those that transfer a lucrative prescription: free groceries. Fast-growing pizza chain Jet Pizza is running into Friday with a pretty standard promo: 20% off pies. Meal kitters are getting downright desperate with their promo prices: EveryPlate is discounting by 72%, while market leader HelloFresh is half off.
The Big Picture: Even if a family is headed to a brick-and-mortar to do its Black Friday shopping, smart restaurants can still make some sales (either delivery or in-person) beforehand. In years past, we’ve seen brands like IHOP, Cracker Barrel, Waffle House and Denny’s boost their market share on Black Friday, as shoppers fuel their ambitions with a big breakfast beforehand. Really smart brands are also merging their loyalty programs into larger digital rewards ecosystems. Weis Markets — which recently partnered with Amazon for grocery deliveries — is now taking that integration a step further. Its loyalty program, Weis Rewards, is now available to all customers shopping for groceries online via Amazon, offering discounts on gas and in-store purchases. Customers link their rewards card number on the Amazon site; this is the first integration of this nature from the Seattle-based shopping giant. Overall, BFCM is expected to see a 42% rise in ecommerce activity compared to a normal period.
VEHICLES | Rivian Delivery Vans Now Available to All
EV upstart Rivian just made its electric delivery vans available to all customers, as its exclusivity period with Amazon has come to an end. The company’s offering two models — the Delivery 500 and Delivery 700 — with the cheapest models starting at about $83,000, although the many thousands of dollars in state and federal incentives will bring that final price way down. The 500 features 487 cubic feet of storage (I guess they round up) and a GVWR of 9350 pounds. The 700 is 652 cubic feet, with a GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of 9500 lb.
The Big Picture: Rivian had an exclusive contract with Amazon dating back to 2019, when the company ordered 100,000 of the eye-catching van. The Irvine, CA-based OEM has been a bit slow to hit that quota, with about 10,000 trucks on the road as of October. Amazon owns 18.1% of the R.J. Scaringe helmed co. While Amazon’s trucks are named EDVs / Electric Delivery Vans, these publicly available vans are coined ECVs / Electric Commercial Vans; nevertheless its assumed they incorporate the same technology like Rivian’s Enduro motors and the same size batteries to get up to 161 miles in range. Will we see any good Cyber Monday savings on these vans next week?
CHART TIME | DoorDash AOV Holds Steady
Over at theDelivery.World, they’ve charted out the average order values of some of the big delivery brands, stretching all the way back to Q1 2020. While Domino’s and Just Eat Takeaway.com’s have inched up, DoorDash’s has stayed flat. Given the high inflation rates we’ve seen post-pandemic, this means the real dollar amount has effectively fallen. A number of theories abound: does greater store density mean fewer fees for long deliveries? Has on-boarding more fast food brands pushed down cart sizes? What about the rise of DashMart? Hit us back with your own theory…
OPS | The Dark History of Black Friday
There are a lot of misconceptions about the term “Black Friday” — many mistakenly think it refers to the period that retailers go from “being in the red” to “running in the black.” (Gotta love a good accounting pun.) The term actually dates back to 1951, when factory operators noticed a number of workers would call in sick, crimping supply lines so they could enjoy a four day weekend. A few years later, police in Philadelphia and Rochester noticed alarming crowds would form on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, as shoppers thronged downtowns looking to get holiday gifts. As of 1985, the term was still quite regional, with data showing that retailers in the West Coast and Midwest were unfamiliar with the term. But by the 90s it had evolved into the cultural phenomenon we know today, with stores extending their hours and running extra special deals to lure in ravenous customers.
The Big Picture: Well what about Cyber Monday? Unsurprisingly, that term doesn’t stretch back as far, it was coined in 2004 by the National Retail Federation. EVP Ellen Davis created the neologism as part of a survey of retailer holiday behavior. It then appeared publicly in a 2005 press release entitled "'Cyber Monday' Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year." You can still read the press release right here — ain’t the internet nifty?
A Few Good Links
Before she headed up Amazon’s last mile operations, she was famous for breaking its website. Cruise Co-Founder Kyle Vogt out. Internet gets mad at DoorDash driver who eats non-tippers’ food. Flytrex, Chick-fil-A drone delivery expands to FL. IVECO and Plus bring AV trucking to Germany. Arcos Dorados (Mickey D’s LatAm) sees income rise 27% in Q3. How to manage risks in a celebrity-focused virtual brand. Presto Automation cuts staff. UPS offers childcare to improve staff retention. Northgate Gonzales Market debuts Eataly-style food hall in OC. Investors mad at Overstock.com / Bed Bay & Beyond. Quarterly ecomm sales up 2.3%. McDonald’s buys more of its Chinese subsidiary. Danny Meyer invests in POS Qu. How restaurants are prepping for higher minimum wages. USPS opens Operation Santa Letter for 111th year. Half of consumers plan to order delivery or dine in a restaurant for Thanksgiving.
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