Brigitte Hodge

Buy now, pay later (BNPL), often referred to as “point-of-sale installment loans,” is a type of short-term financing that lets your customers pay for purchases over time, often with zero or low interest rates. BNPL payments have become increasingly prolific in the retail world in recent years as people have begun to use them more frequently for everyday purchases. This article takes a deep dive into how BNPL works, the pros and cons of offering this financing option, and the solutions you can use to implement it in your business. How BNPL Works While the exact terms of purchase will vary based on the financing solution, in general, the BNPL process begins with a customer choosing their items and selecting the BNPL option at checkout. The customer must then be approved and decide on a payment plan. Once the transaction is complete, your business will receive the full payment amount while the customer will pay later according to the BNPL terms. Pros & Cons of Offering BNPL There are lots of great benefits that can come from offering BNPL to your customers. However, there are also drawbacks you should consider, particularly impacts on the customer that could alter their opinion of your brand. BNPL Solutions To offer a BNPL payment option at your business checkout, you will need to sign up and integrate a BNPL solution into your POS and/or ecommerce site. Creating an account and adding it to your site is free—simply pay the processing fee, and the BNPL partner takes care of the rest. Click through the tabs below to see how the top BNPL providers stack up against each other. BNPL Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bottom Line As we look to the future of retail, BNPL services will play a major role in the payments landscape. Here, we examined what BNPL is, how it works, solutions for your business, and the service’s highlights and drawbacks. With this knowledge, you are ready to start integrating BNPL services into your transactions and reaping the benefits. You May Also Like… What Is a Merchant Account? How to Accept Credit Cards Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics

Customers want a checkout experience that is convenient, quick, and contactless. Mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) apps meet that need, allowing you to take sales to the floor, tableside, or off-site. Global Market Insights projects that by 2027, the mPOS terminals market will hit $70 billion worldwide. In our evaluation, we looked at over 15 of the top mobile POS options on the market and narrowed them down to our top six. The best mobile POS apps are: : Best overall : Best free with customer loyalty : Best for accepting PayPal : Best for inventory management and full-service restaurants : Best for choosing your own merchant account : Best for omnichannel sellers Best Mobile POS Apps Compared Square: Best Overall Mobile POS App is not only our top choice for mobile POS apps, it is also our pick for the best POS software and the top free POS solution because it's compatible with many business types and offers high-quality features at a low price. It features a free POS account that comes fully kitted with all the basic tools, including an ecommerce site and payment processing. Square also has advanced POS options with tools specifically for retailers, restaurants, or appointment-based businesses. The best part? With the free Square POS app, you can log in to your POS account on any mobile device and take your business operations on the go. Note, however, that Square for Restaurants is iOS-only, and there are limited-restaurant features in the Android retail POS app. If you need a full restaurant POS app, check out Lightspeed. In our evaluation, Square earned a 4.66 out of 5. It aced the ratings for price and expert evaluation, but took hits for its limited service hours, limitations on the free account, and loyalty program (which is an add-on, unlike with Loyverse). Additionally, its inventory management tools do not have the in-depth reporting or product details that you find with Lightspeed or Shopify. Loyverse: Best Free POS Option is an extremely popular free POS app offering a completely free POS system that works with a variety of payment processors worldwide. The app includes loyalty, inventory, and even employee management features. Notably, Loyverse can also work offline. It came a close second to Square, with 4.55 out of 5 on our evaluation. In fact, Loyverse was the only provider that scored 5 out of 5 on mobile-specific features. It also scored well for its 24/7 customer service and ease of use. Its range of features rivals Square, and with a choice of payment processors, you can find rates that suit you. Note, however, that unlike Square, Loyverse charges extra for integrations and does not include an ecommerce platform. Loyverse also lost points for its limited payment integration options, lack of custom reports, and having no ecommerce platform. The app also had lower-than-average ratings from users on third-party software review sites. PayPal Zettle: Best for PayPal Payments & Selling Internationally is a free POS system brought to you by PayPal. With tools like inventory controls, staff management, and reporting, Zettle has similar tools in its free plan as Square or Loyverse. With Zettle, you also get access to PayPal payment processing, which allows you to process payments all over the world—perfect for international sellers. The Zettle by PayPal mobile app is also highly rated and user-friendly. With 4.24 out of 5, PayPal Zettle earned a perfect score for pricing and high scores in the general features and expert score categories. Where Zettle lost points was for lacking offline mode, a time clock feature, and tools for specific industries like restaurants. Lightspeed: Best for Full-service Restaurants & Businesses Managing Complex Inventories POS system made our list of best POS systems for restaurants and leading inventory POS because of its extensive toolset for restaurant owners and its high level of inventory controls. With Lightspeed Restaurant, you have everything you need to run full-service restaurants or small eateries, including kitchen communication channels, ingredient-level inventory tracking, and perishables management. Meanwhile, Lightspeed Retail gives you access to tons of inventory controls, like granular and customer reports, inventory matrixes, and vendor management. It does have some drawbacks, however. To start, Lightspeed’s mobile app and POS dashboard are not the easiest to learn (especially when compared to Square or Shopify). This yields lower user reviews. A more complex interface along with limited mobile app functionality and a paid loyalty program earned Lightspeed a 4.02 out of 5 in our evaluation. Clover POS: Best for Choosing Your Own Merchant Account POS app is a combination of software/hardware that is popular with businesses because it lets them purchase Clover systems through authorized payment processors or banks. This means that Clover is good for people that already have a merchant account but want to upgrade to a POS system or those looking to work with a specific processor. While you can use nearly any merchant account, unless otherwise specified, Clover will default and automatically enroll its new members into Fiserv upon sign-up if you purchase directly through the Clover website. This means you can start accepting payments as soon as you have a Clover account with Fiserv. Clover earns 3.94 out of 5 in our evaluation. It has high marks for mobile, but its general user ratings are not as good. There are a lot of complaints about third-party resellers trapping retailers with hidden fees. Clover also does not let you use your phone as a barcode scanner, like you find with Lightspeed, Square, and Shopify. However, it does have strong customer and loyalty tools and integrations. Shopify POS: Best for Omnichannel Sellers is one of the top ecommerce solutions today and also has great tools for in-person sales, social media selling, and click-and-collect orders. In fact, it’s our most recommended multichannel POS system for retailers. Businesses that do heavy online sales and need an excellent ecommerce solution and in-store POS application will appreciate the strong inventory and customer management tools. However, if you already have an ecommerce solution and are not willing to give it up, look into PayPal Zettle or Square, which have free POS apps that integrate with popular online stores. Shopify earned 3.76 out of 5 on our evaluation. It took a hit because it does not offer a time clock or restaurant features, does not have an offline mode, and you must use Shopify payment processing. Nonetheless, it had one of the highest scores for general POS features and maxed out our expert score for value for the dollar. How We Evaluated Mobile POS Apps We pulled from decades of experience by our researchers, personal use, operating POS systems in retail settings, and studying and testing these systems. Then, we combined this with feedback from long-term, real-world users who have posted reviews on trusted third-party sites. The best mobile POS apps optimize the balance of hardware, software, and payment processors. We started by selecting only those with a mobile app. This ensures you can run the program on a smartphone or tablet. However, many, like Square or Clover, had their own hardware as well. Then, we looked for software features that not only let you ring up sales but track inventory and manage customers (such as Loyverse’s loyalty program). For payment processing, we selected a mix of those with proprietary merchant services and those that offer you a choice. As often happens when evaluating POS software, tops the list. In addition to being the best POS app for small businesses, it’s also on lists for POS for restaurants, payment processing, and more. Square was built for mobile, and its POS application reflects that focus even as it has grown to encompass brick-and-mortar applications. Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria: Bottom Line There’s no reason to be tied to the counter. Many POS apps have a mobile component, either as a handheld device or with a downloadable application. The best mobile POS systems sync with the main program, handle offline transactions, and let you access the backend. Overall, Square has the best features for the best price while being the easiest to use. Even better, its POS system is free with a competitive payment processing fee. Go to Square and download the POS today. You May Also Like… Learn more about POS systems and the different types of POS. If you just need to accept payments, and don’t need the additional features that come with a POS system, consider using a mobile credit card processor.

The 4-4-5 calendar is a special retail calendar that divides the year into four quarters of 13 weeks (two four-week months followed by one five-week month) for the sake of consistency and comparison. By making accurate comparisons of your sales figures and other data across years, you can use 4-4-5 calendars to better understand your performance and set goals. Download our free 2021–2023 4-4-5 calendar: How to Use a 4-4-5 Retail Calendar A 4-4-5 calendar lets you compare sales numbers across years, whether on a large scale (monthly or annual data) or a more granular basis (day by day). The format ensures the same number of weekend days in each month every year, each period begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday, and retailers can compare the same day of the week across years, i.e., Mondays to Mondays and Saturdays to Saturdays. The best way to understand how to use the 4-4-5 calendar is with an example. Let’s take a look at the month of April. 2021 2022 As you can see, the first day shown for the month of April 2021 is Sunday, March 28. The next year, however, the first day of that period is Sunday, March 27. That means you would compare your sales figures or other data from Sunday, March 28, 2021, to that of Sunday, March 27, 2022. For example, let’s say your sales for Sunday, March 28, 2021, were $2,000. When setting your sales goal for Sunday, March 27, 2022, you might set a goal of 10% higher—or $2,200. Setting incrementally higher daily sales goals based on your 4-4-5 calendar history is a great way to keep your business on an upward trajectory and track that progress on a day-to-day level. As you continue through the month, you can use the sales figures from the previous 4-4-5 calendar year to set daily sales goals, compare traffic, or make other comparisons to keep your business on track. And, because all months across 4-4-5 calendar years follow the same pattern and have the same number of days, you can also make accurate monthly comparisons. Going back to the example above, in 2021, there are holidays in the first and second week of the month. In 2022, however, these holidays are in the third and fourth weeks. While the 4-4-5 calendar can ensure that the same holidays are in the same months across years, they won’t always fall in the same weeks. There is no formal accounting procedure to accommodate these inconsistencies, so the best approach is to take your day-by-day sales figures with a grain of salt and look at monthly comparisons for the most accurate picture of your performance. Pros & Cons of 4-4-5 Retail Calendars While 4-4-5 calendars are great tools for retailers and have a lot of great perks, they do come with a few drawbacks. Take a look at the table below. 4-4-5 Retail Calendar Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Click through the questions below to get answers to some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding 4-4-5 calendars. Bottom Line 4-4-5 retail calendars are a great tool for keeping your business on track and understanding your performance year over year. With the guide above, you have all the tools you need to start utilizing a 4-4-5 calendar and monitoring your business’s success. You May Also Like… How to Start a Retail Business Retail Marketing Strategies That Drive Sales 4-5-4 Retail Calendar

Customer financing is when customers pay for a product or service in installments or with store credit instead of paying the full amount upfront. You can offer customer financing either through your business itself or via a third-party financing partner, like Klarna and Affirm. Offering customer financing options can boost sales, increase conversions, improve customer loyalty, and drive repeat business. Step 1: Decide What Kind of Customer Financing to Offer The first step to offering customer financing is to determine what kind of financing to provide. Customer financing can be either in-house, meaning financed by the business itself, or provided by a third-party platform like Afterpay or Klarna. In-house financing requires running credit checks, offering financing, and managing payment collection yourself and also comes with more risk and legal responsibilities pertaining to consumer credit information. The ideal type of financing for your business depends on a number of factors, including implementation, scalability, cost, risk, and flexibility. Consider these factors when determining the type of customer financing program that’s right for you. Implementation: The best customer financing tools are easy to implement and don’t involve a lot of training for employees. Financing should also be intuitive for your customers and should not substantially interfere with the checkout process. Keep in mind that in-house financing will likely require growing your account receivables team. Scalability: Ideally, customer financing should help you increase sales as you grow across all platforms. This includes your brick-and-mortar store, ecommerce store, mobile events, and popup locations. If growth can’t be accomplished in-house, ensure the financing platform offers the tools your business needs to grow. Cost: Third-party financing companies charge merchants a percentage of each financed transaction, meaning the service can cut into a business’s bottom line. Additionally, stores offering in-house customer financing also see an initial drop in cash flow because they aren’t getting paid for financed purchases upfront. Risk: While there is always some risk in letting customers buy now and pay later, it is elevated for businesses offering in-house financing. Generally, third-party financing providers protect businesses from much of this risk because they pay the merchants in full. But, depending on the provider, there can be a risk of non-payment. Flexibility: Some customer financing platforms impose limitations on what can be financed. In general, however, they give shoppers the flexibility to finance even small purchases that individual stores might not be willing to finance in-house. Consider your prices and average order value (AOVs) when deciding how to offer customer financing. Step 2: Choose a Financing Provider If you decide to offer in-house financing, you can skip this step. Begin focusing on how you will perform credit checks for your customers and the internal payment system you will facilitate for them to pay off their purchases. Note, it is rare for SMBs to offer financing in-house, as BNPL partners take on much of the risk and create seamless systems for offering and completing loans. The rest of this guide will focus on the processes involved in working with a financial partner. If you decide to outsource financing, the next thing you will want to do is select a partner. Click through the provider names below to learn about some of your options. Step 3: Integrate Financing Across Sales Channels Regardless of whether you opt for in-house or outsourced financing, you’ll need to add the payment option to all of your sales channels. This means using a POS system that either lets you program your own financing options or integrates with a third-party financing platform. Additionally, online retailers should incorporate financing options into product listings and the checkout process. The best POS financing partners make it easy to integrate with the top POS and ecommerce platforms, so you can streamline checkout and keep all of your sales data in one place. You should work to integrate your financing options with your: In-store POS: Allow customers to opt for a financing option for in-store purchases by integrating your financing option with your POS system. Website checkout page: Add your third-party or in-house financing option as a payment option to your checkout page, just like you would with Apple Pay, Debit, and Credit. Online product pages: It is best to display both the list price and the financing monthly rate so that shoppers can see that they can afford an item as they view it. Step 4: Advertise Your Financing Options to Customers After all of the leg work is done, it’s time to share your new financing options with your customers. Prominently advertise financing in your store, on your website, and across social media so that customers know about the options upfront. This strategy can turn passive browsers into buyers, especially when it comes to big-ticket purchases and online shopping. Incorporating financing into your marketing strategy can also encourage shoppers to choose your brand over competitors. You will also want to ensure that you train your employees to execute a financed purchase on your POS system and mention financing options at checkout and when working with customers. Pros & Cons of Offering Consumer Financing Customer financing can offer merchants a number of benefits, from the ability to compete with larger retailers to increased customer satisfaction and retention. However, there are some risks associated with customer financing, and they may lead to more complex accounting requirements for your business. BNPL FAQs Click through the questions below to get answers to some of your most common questions. Bottom Line In today’s economic climate, many customers don’t have the funds necessary to make large purchases. Customer financing gives shoppers the ability to pay off large purchases over time while increasing your store’s sales and transaction values. Make the most out of customer financing by choosing a POS financing partner that meets the needs of your business and its customers. You might also be interested in… Our breakdown of what exactly a merchant account is and how you can use it.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps allow customers to pay for items in installments while you, the merchant, are paid in full right away. In general, there are two types of BNPL financing options―pay-in-four (25% payments every two weeks) or longer-term six- to 36-month financing plans. Some of the benefits of offering BNPL financing include increased average order value (AOV), higher conversion rates, and appealing to modern consumers. In this article, we chose the six best buy now, pay later apps that retailers can use to offer BNPL financing to their customers. All the apps have strong reputations, good reviews, and lots of features for both consumers and retailers. : Best overall : Best for high-ticket items : Best for businesses that already use PayPal : Best for catering to younger shoppers (formerly Quadpay): Best for small transactions : Best for international sales Best Buy Now, Pay Later Apps Compared Buy Now, Pay Later Quiz: What Is the Best App for Your Business? Klarna: Best Overall Buy Now, Pay Later App We chose as the best overall BNPL app because it offers so much for both merchants and consumers. It's the only one on our list that offers shoppers three ways to pay, but it pays merchants in full according to a schedule they set. It provides on-site messaging so that customers know they can use Klarna and what their payments will look like. Like many others, it has its own marketplace where you may attract new customers and offers integrated marketing campaigns for added promotion. Klarna splits its plans depending on your gross annual sales: those making less than $3 million in sales and those making more. It’s free to get started, but Klarna does not list transaction pricing on its website. Its terms state that there’s a 12-month obligation with automatic renewal, so get a quote and do some comparisons before committing. It services merchants in 17 countries, making it good for international sales. It integrates with only 11 shopping carts but is popular with payment processors like Stripe. Affirm: Best for High-ticket Sales *Affirm works in Canada under the name PayBright. To use PayBright, you need a Canadian store and to bill customers in CAD, but do not need to have a Canadian entity or bank account. differs from other BNPL apps because it offers a purchase limit of $17,500, which is the highest on our list by $7,500 as well as up to 48-month financing. For these reasons, we like Affirm best for high-ticket sellers. It works with big-ticket merchants like Kay Jewelers and Peloton, but it can work with small retailers as well, with pay-in-four options and a $50 minimum spend. Like Klarna, Affirm does not reveal its transaction rates on its website. However, third-party sites claim transactions are around 5.99% plus 30 cents per transaction, which is higher than many BNPL options. Rates likely depend on your processing volume and overall size. Additionally, Affirm integrates with 47 ecommerce platforms, which is more than most on our list. It also pays you the full purchase price in one to three days, which is about average for BNPL services. PayPal Pay Later: Best for Businesses That Already Process Payments With PayPal is a great option for lots of businesses, especially those that already use the company to process their payments. Every business that uses PayPal to process its transactions has access to its BNPL services automatically. All you have to do is integrate the BNPL option into your website’s checkout. This means that you don't have to sign up for or integrate with another service in order to offer BNPL. While it is easiest for PayPal users to use, you can also add PayPal Pay if you use third-party payment processors or even other BNPL apps. PayPal integrates with most ecommerce platforms but is not compatible with in-store use. PayPal also assumes all the loan risk with the same PayPal protection plan, the same one used for all other PayPal purchases. Afterpay: Best BNPL App for Stores Catering to Gen Z is a pay-in-four BNPL app with the highest customer rating of those on our list—4.8 out of 5 stars, according to more than 180 customer reviews. Customers enjoy interest-free installments while you get your money in full within 48 hours of the purchase, guaranteed. Finance sites recommend the pay-in-four financing service especially for Gen Zers still learning to manage money. It offers smart card limits to help shoppers develop good spending habits, so it's a good choice if you cater to that crowd. You can integrate Afterpay with any of 19 ecommerce platforms or use an API. Afterpay works in eight countries: the US, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Spain, and Italy. Like the other apps here, it does not charge cross-border fees. It also does not list fees on its website but gives a custom quote. We found transaction fees ranging from 4% to 6% plus 30 cents per transaction, which is on the high end for those in this guide. According to Afterpay’s finding, 57% of consumers are more likely to choose your site if you offer Afterpay financing, retailer AOV sees an average of 18% increase when they offer Afterpay, and 85% of Afterpay users discovered a new merchant in the last six months via the Afterpay app. While impressive, Afterpay’s success stats are somewhat lower than those of the other providers. Even so, these are not bad, and the acquisition by Block certainly helps merchants using Square POS, ecommerce, and payment solutions. Zip: Best for Small Transactions is another BNPL service that caps its loans at $5,000, making it ideal for businesses that conduct smaller sales. Zip is also the only pay-in-four app in this guide that charges customers a transaction fee, instead of any APR. Zip is convenient for merchants because it is accepted anywhere Visa is, both in-store and online all over the world. For in-person sales, customers can use their Zip app to generate a quick response code (QR) code on their purchase, and then you simply scan the QR code to process the payment. You don’t need to integrate with your POS system at all, making it the best for in-person sales. Zip does not list its processing rates online, but research shows that they range from 2% to 4% plus 15 cents per transaction, with new customers seeing a 2% to 4% plus 30 cents charge. Customers also incur transaction fees: $4 per purchase and $1 per payment. This is unusual for BNPL apps, but does not take away from its popularity with shoppers. Splitit: Best for International Sales is the best BNPL app for international businesses because it is available in 53 countries. Klarna, PayPal, and Afterpay also work with international merchants, but in far fewer locations. Plus, like Zip, Splitit is good for in-person payments anywhere Mastercard, Visa, and Discover are accepted. Like others on our list, Splitit takes responsibility for chargebacks and fraud. It’s also the only app here that has pricing plans on its website: Standard (from 1.5% plus $1.50): Pays you in installments in-line with the customer’s payment plan Splitit Plus (from 3.9% plus 30 cents): Pays in installments like the standard plan, but includes Splitit payment processing Funded (from 2.5%): Gets you the full amount up front; must be a US, Canadian, UK, German, or Australian business processing at least $500,000 annually It is unusual to have options that don’t fund the merchant immediately. Splitit is also unique from a shopper perspective, which we outline below. How We Evaluated Buy Now, Pay Later Apps When considering the best BNPL apps, we took a two-pronged approach. First, we looked for those that worked well for customers because, if shoppers don’t use them, they’re no good for you. Here, we looked for ease of use, credit pulls, flexibility of payments, and whatever made it stand out from the crowd. The second piece we looked at was the merchant side. Here, we looked at transaction fees and what benefits they claimed in terms of increased transaction amounts, repeat customers, and completed sales. We also took into account what country or state a merchant had to be in and where it accepted payments, what ecommerce platforms and other small business tools the company integrates with, and payout/funding times. Bottom Line Buy now, pay later apps are great for merchants, especially those selling online. They can cut down abandoned shopping carts, increase AOV, and encourage repeat shopping. You have to pay a transaction fee for most, but all can pay you in full, and most assume responsibility for chargebacks and fraud. We chose Klarna as the best overall BNPL app. It works internationally, offers multiple payback options for consumers, and integrates with a wide variety of online ecommerce and payment processing systems. Head over to its website and fill out the form to get started. You May Also Like… Learn more about accepting payments at your business with merchant accounts See the latest buy now, pay later statistics Read more about how to offer customer financing to your shoppers

Black Friday weekend is just around the corner, and we have rounded up the top Black Friday statistics that business owners should know. We review top Black Friday trends from 2021 and take a look at projections for 2022. From consumer behaviors, to shopping preferences, to expected traffic—we have it all covered. Black Friday 2021 in Review 1. In-store shopping made a comeback with 66.5 million in-store shoppers on Black Friday Black Friday saw over 66.5 million in-store shoppers. According to data from RetailNext, this was a 61% increase in foot traffic compared to the same day in 2020. While this boost is a great sign, in-store traffic was still 27% below pre-pandemic rates in 2019. 2. Nearly 155 million Americans shopped during Black Friday 2021 A study from the National Retail Federation found that 154.5 million Americans shopped in-store and online on Black Friday. 3. People spent an average of $301.27 on Black Friday 2021 On Black Friday, consumers spent an average of $301.27 on holiday-related purchases, contributing to $179.8 million spent over the weekend as a whole. Clothing and accessories was the top purchase category, followed by toys, gift cards, and then books and media. See the graphic below for a full breakdown of the weekend’s most popular shopping categories. 4. Retailers that offered a pickup option grew their revenue by 50% more than retailers that did not Driving home the importance of in-store pickup options, a report from Salesforce found that retailers providing curbside or in-store pickup options increased their year-over-year Black Friday revenue an average of 50% more than retailers that did not provide these services. 5. 42% of 2021 Black Friday ecommerce revenue came from mobile sales Research from Adobe found that 42.4% of Black Friday ecommerce revenue came from mobile sales. This translates to about $3.7 billion—a 2% increase over the previous year and a record for Black Friday. 6. Cyber Week 2021’s average discounts were 26% According to Salesforce data, Cyber Week saw an increase in average selling price (ASP) by 11% in the US. Meanwhile, average discounts fell 8% year-over-year to 26%. Consumer Perspective With 2021 Black Friday in the rearview, what are customer expectations and perceptions around 2022’s Black Friday? Read on to learn just that. 7. More shoppers think brands are prepared for Black Friday in 2022 compared to 2021 While the supply chain issues that have plagued retailers over the past several years are no fault of their own, the subsequent stock-outs and low inventory caused many shoppers to perceive businesses as being ill-prepared or poorly run. There is, however, a change in the tide, as the supply chain is regaining momentum and retailers are better navigating the new buying and fulfillment landscape. In fact, in 2021, 59% of shoppers thought brands did not do enough to prepare for the influx of Black Friday sales. But this number has dropped significantly this year—down to 44%—showing that consumer trust is returning and expectations are rising again. 8. 54% of shoppers predict that Black Friday discounts won’t be as good as they expect More than half of consumers anticipate that discounts for Black Friday 2022 will be lower than expected. Not only that, but 50% of shoppers anticipate that the items they actually want to buy will be full-priced. 9. 48% of consumers believe that brands push low-quality products during Black Friday Nearly half of consumers believe that retailers sell lower-quality goods during Black Friday to offer great deals. While this is not a great public perception, it has improved since 2021, when 56% of consumers carried this belief. 10. 36% of shoppers feel pressure to make purchases on Black Friday Over a third of people feel pressured to shop and buy over Black Friday. While this represents great buying potential that you should capitalize on, 36% actually is a drop from 2021 when 57% felt this pressure. 11. 37% of consumers say Black Friday deals impact their trust in a brand In 2021, 58% of consumers stated that when a brand offered a Black Friday deal, they felt less trusting of that brand and the quality of its products. This year, that number has dropped to 37%, meaning that fewer customers will become skeptical of a brand for offering Black Friday discounts. 12. 46% of consumers believe brands prioritize new customers over existing customers during Black Friday Almost half of customers believe that brands prioritize capturing new shoppers over the Black Friday weekend. This number is down from 2021 when 59% of consumers felt this way. With more and more businesses relying on customer loyalty to stay afloat, it is good to see a decline in this belief. 13. 58% of consumers won’t shop in person during Black Friday due to large crowds A lingering effect of the pandemic is fear of large crowds. In fact, even this year, 58% of shoppers who are not planning to partake in Black Friday shopping cite large crowds of shoppers as their reason. 14. 67% of consumers are more interested in Black Friday deals due to rising inflation rates on everyday goods While many consumers have low expectations for Black Friday discounts, that doesn’t mean they won't be shopping. In fact, over two-thirds of shoppers are interested in shopping on Black Friday and taking advantage of deals due to the rising cost of living. 15. 79% of consumers agree retail locations should be closed on Thanksgiving According to Drive Research, 79% of consumers believe that stores should be closed on Thanksgiving. Women are slightly more likely to agree that retail locations should be closed on Thanksgiving than men (80% vs 75%). Generationally, the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers are the most likely to strongly agree retail locations should be closed on Thanksgiving. Shopping Trends Learn how customers are planning on shopping this Black Friday—from what they are buying to where they are doing it. We have it all here. 16. Black Friday shopping is starting early with 31% of consumers shopping on Thursday Over the last several years, holiday shopping has started earlier and earlier, and Black Friday is no exception. In 2022, it is predicted that 31% of consumers will start their Black Friday shopping Thursday, 25% will start in-person shopping Friday between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., and 15% will start their gift buying Friday between midnight and 5 a.m. 17. Millennials/Gen Y/Gen Z will shop online the most The divide between in-store and online shoppers is highly generational, with younger generations using online shopping at a much higher rate than older ones. In fact, 86% of millennials/Gen Y/Gen Z say they will be doing their Black Friday shopping online instead of in-store. 18. Women are more likely to shop online for Black Friday than men Not only is the in-store versus online shopping divide generational, but it is also gendered. In fact, 73% of female shoppers are planning to do their Black Friday shopping online, compared to 65% of men. 19. 62% of shoppers will visit Walmart on Black Friday Walmart and Target will be the most popular places to shop in person on Black Friday. Of the 32% of consumers who will shop in person on Black Friday 2022, 62% will visit Walmart, 58% will visit Target, and 34% will visit shopping malls. 20. 46% of people will not wait more than 30 minutes to enter a store on Black Friday As convenience is becoming more and more important to consumers, Black Friday lines are becoming less tolerable and are actually deterring sales. In fact, nearly half of Black Friday shoppers say they are not willing to wait 30 minutes to enter a store; only 38% indicated they are willing to wait between 30 minutes and an hour. 21. Compared to 2021, online shopping will see a 17% increase, and in-person shopping will see a 3% decrease While there was a great return to in-store shopping between the Black Fridays of 2020 and 2021, it looks like there will be a slight reversal in this trend come 2022. A study from Drive Research found that in 2022, 69% of people plan to shop online and 32% in person. While in-store numbers are solid, especially when compared to 2020, this actually represents a 17% increase in online shoppers and a 3% decrease in in-store buying compared to 2021. 22. 54% of shoppers are more likely to shop at stores that offer BOPIS As we learned in 2021, offering pickup options is important for getting people to buy from your store on Black Friday. 2022 is no different, with 54% of shoppers stating that they are more likely to shop at stores that offer buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) options. 23. Clothing, electronics, and toys will be the biggest shopping categories during Black Friday Of all the things that people can buy on Black Friday, clothes, electronics, and toys will be the most frequent purchases. In fact, a study from Drive Research found that on Black Friday, 78% of men plan to shop for electronics, while 77% of women plan to shop for clothing and accessories. Bottom Line Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and you want to be prepared. Use the Black Friday stats and figures above to learn from last year, get insights into what consumers expect, and help anticipate shopping trends for this year. Follow up with our guide to Black Friday marketing strategies to put this data into action. You May Also Like… Retail Statistics: The State of In-store Shopping How to Start a Retail Business

Cyber Monday, the ecommerce shopping holiday that takes place the Monday after Thanksgiving, is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, even rivaling its contemporary, Black Friday. This article takes a look at Cyber Monday statistics from the past two years, along with projections for 2022, so you can understand the landscape and capitalize on all the buying potential Cyber Monday brings. General Cyber Monday Statistics From sales figures to discount data, read through the statistics below to learn more about Cyber Monday (a term coined from a press release on Shop.org by the National Retail Federation back in 2005) and what the holiday has looked like over the past few years. 1. Cyber Monday hit $10.7 billion in sales and 97.3 million shoppers in 2021 2021’s Cyber Monday sales hit $10.7 billion in the US alone, drawing in 77 million online shoppers and about 20 million in-store shoppers. 2. Spending was down nearly 1.5% from 2020 to 2021 While $10.7 billion is a massive figure, sales were actually down year-over-year. In fact, Adobe found that spending was down over 1.4%, representing about $100 million of revenue loss. 3. Cyber Monday sees revenue of $12 million every minute at peak times Despite the drop in revenue YOY, Cyber Monday is still the biggest online shopping day of the year, with US consumers spending an average of $12 million every minute during peak times. 4. Retailers sent over 40 billion messages to customers over BFCM weekend in 2021 Outreach marketing surges over the competitive BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) weekend, with retailers doing all they can to reach shoppers. One of the top strategies that emerged in 2021 was via SMS and email. Over the BFCM weekend, more than 40 billion messages were sent to customers, increasing 34% from 2020. Not only that, but mobile push notifications grew 114% and email volume increased by 25% from the previous year. 5. Online shopping is more than 3x more popular than in-store shopping for Cyber Monday While in-store shopping was up in 2021 compared to 2020 (which we will touch on later), online shopping channels still dominated the BFCM shopping period, particularly on Cyber Monday. 6. Amazon, Walmart, and eBay were 2021’s Cyber Monday traffic leaders The big three—Amazon, Walmart, and eBay—led the way in retail traffic for 2021’s Cyber Monday. Other big names, including Macy’s, Away, and Ticketmaster, also saw massive rebounds in their 2021 Cyber Monday sales compared to the previous year. The notable declines include Wayfair and Kohl’s, both dropping below 2019 traffic. 7. Cyber Week 2021’s average discounts were 26% According to Salesforce data, Cyber Week saw an increase in average selling price (ASP) by 11% in the US. Meanwhile, average discounts fell 8% year-over-year to 26%. Cyber Monday Consumer Behaviors In this section we will look at how consumers are shopping on Cyber Monday, answering questions on their preferences, expectations, and general behaviors. 8. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) revenue increased 21% between Cyber Monday 2020 and 2021 BNPL services are growing in popularity across the board, and Cyber Monday 2021 saw a 21% increase in BNPL revenue compared to 2020. Although still growing, BNPL adoption rates are beginning to slow, however. 9. 18% of online orders on Cyber Monday were from buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) Nearly one in five online orders on Cyber Monday was a curbside pickup order, demonstrating that making this service available is a necessity for converting sales in 2022. 10. Share of online shopping traffic was 39% higher on mobile than desktop in 2021 For the 2021 BFCM weekend, mobile claimed a 69% share of online shopping traffic (compared to only 31% for desktop). However, online conversion rates were 4% on desktop and only 2% on mobile. 11. 64% of shoppers prefer larger, limited-time discounts Rather than offering smaller discounts and offers for the whole holiday season, try doing shorter-term, steeper discounts. A study from Tidio found that 64% of shoppers prefer limited-time, but larger discounts as opposed to smaller, long-term deals. 12. Free shipping is customers’ top consideration when shopping online Free shipping is most important to online shoppers on Cyber Monday. Other top considerations are shipping speed—people want their orders fast!—and customer reviews. 13. 54% of shoppers use 5+ online shopping channels to shop on Cyber Monday According to data from Google, more than half of Cyber Monday shoppers use five or more shopping channels to shop on Cyber Monday. This likely means that the majority of consumers are comparing deals, investigating reviews, and weighing their options for all Cyber Monday purchases. Cyber Monday 2022 Projections Cyber Monday 2022 is coming, and we have the latest studies and projections for this year’s largest day in ecommerce. 14. Cyber Monday is expected to remain the season’s and year’s biggest shopping day, with $11.2 billion in spending Although the prominence of Cyber Monday is diminishing as discounts come earlier and online shopping becomes a more common daily activity, it is still projected to be the biggest shopping day of the year. Adobe predicts that Cyber Monday 2022 will see a record-breaking $11.2 billion in spending, increasing 5.1% YoY. 15. 64% of US consumers will shop on Cyber Monday in 2022 — a 42% increase from 2021 A study from Drive Research found that 64% of respondents are planning to shop on Cyber Monday in 2022. Compared to 2021, that’s an increase of 42%. 16. 49% of the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers will shop on Cyber Monday While research suggests that 64% of people will be participating in Cyber Monday, for older generations, the participation rate is slightly lower. Only 49% of Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are planning to shop that day. 17. Female consumers are more likely to shop on Cyber Monday than males You can expect to see more female than male shoppers this Cyber Monday, with 69% of females planning to shop compared to only 58% of males. 18. 80% of Cyber Monday shoppers plan to shop on Amazon Of the online stores consumers will visit on Cyber Monday, Amazon was the choice of 80% of people; Target and Walmart were next with 51% and 50%, respectively. Other common answers included Kohl’s (28%), Best Buy (26%), Old Navy (19%), Costco (18%), and Macy’s (18%). 19. 66% of online shoppers are going to spend more than last year Two-thirds of online buyers plan to spend more money this Cyber Monday than last. This can partially be attributed to inflation and partially to the increased proliferation of the holiday. 20. Amazon Prime Day might cause Cyber Monday sales to take a hit The first Amazon Prime Day event of 2022 drove record online sales for the retail industry overall, with $73.7 billion spent, up 20.9% YoY. A second Prime Day event was held in early October. These discounts will entice some consumers to start their shopping sooner and have fewer needs by the time late November rolls around, potentially impacting Cyber Monday’s performance. 21. Discounts will hit record highs this holiday season at 32% As retailers contend with oversupply and a softening consumer spending environment, discounts are anticipated to be much higher than last year. The average discount for 2022 is projected to come in at 32%. Discounts for computers are expected to be as high as 32% (up from 10% in 2021), while electronics discounts are set to hit 27% (up from 8%), and toys at 22% (up from 19%). Other discount categories will include televisions at 19% (vs 11% in 2021), apparel at 19% (vs 13%), appliances at 18% (vs 4%), sporting goods at 17% (vs 6%), and furniture & bedding at 11% (vs 2%). Bottom Line Cyber Monday is a big deal in the world of retail. You can prepare and reap the rewards by understanding Cyber Monday by the numbers. Here we broke down everything Cyber Monday—with the previous year’s performance metrics, consumer preferences, and projections for the coming years giving you everything you need to capitalize on the biggest online shopping day. You May Also Like… Retail Statistics: The State of In-store Shopping How to Start a Retail Business

Square Online offers a free ecommerce website for retailers, restaurants, service businesses, and nonprofits. Any seller, from a mobile business to a multistore operator, can open a Square Online store, list products for sale, process payments, and deliver orders via traditional shipping methods, curbside pickup, and local delivery. The free store is fairly easy to set up, and we’ll walk you through the process in 10 simple steps. We’ll also show you how to set up a Square Checkout page for pickup orders and how Square Online works for restaurants. If you want to follow along,  now. It's completely risk-free and takes just a few minutes; you can build your store as you read this guide. Step 1: Create a Free Square Account The first step is to open a free Square account. Once you have an account, you can log in and get access to all of Square’s free tools via your online dashboard. Every Square account comes with a POS system, a website builder, appointment management, marketing, backend reports, inventory management, and more—all of which can be managed via your account dashboard. The only information required to set up a Square account is your email address and password. Make sure you choose a secure password since your identity and banking information will be connected to your profile. You can choose to enter optional information, like your business name and type, or do this later in your Square Dashboard settings. Every free Square Online store ties into the rest of the Square ecosystem and can be managed through your Square Dashboard, where you can sync products, orders, and customers across your in-person and online sales channels. During setup, you will also have the option to choose from one of Square Online’s paid plans, starting at $12. Paid subscribers will also have access to features like customer product reviews, abandoned cart recovery, and the ability to accept PayPal payments. Step 2: Configure Your Initial Store Settings Once you’ve signed up for your free account, you can start building your online store. Square guides users through the process with automated prompts, so no technical skills are required. Additionally, all settings can be changed later through the Square Dashboard—nothing you choose now is permanent. For our Square Online store demo, we created the online store, Everyday Knits, a knitting and craft supply business. Scroll through the images below for step-by-step guidance on how we did our initial configuration. Step 3: Design Your Square Website After you have completed the initial configuration of your website design, you will be returned to the Square Online control panel in your Square dashboard, pictured below. If it’s your first time creating a Square Online Store, a series of setup steps will automatically appear to help you configure the rest of your store. Otherwise, simply use the navigation bar on the left-hand side to select the settings you want to adjust. In the control panel, the first thing that Square will prompt you to do is design your website. Simply click the “Design Now” button in the Design Your Website dropdown. The “Design Your Website” button will take you to the new and improved Square Online Website Builder, where your first selection will be to pick a style from Square’s pre-made templates. This will be the overall look of your website, but you will have the option to make changes to font and color later. From there, you simply select a style that appeals to you and your brand. The template will expand so you can get a better view, and if you like it, select the “Customize” button to get started with adding the rest of your design. Select the template you want to start with to begin the design process. You are now in Square Online’s site designer. Here you will have a series of initial design options including adding your logo, changing the color scheme and fonts, and alternating the shape of your site. You should update these settings to your liking first. Easily change the view of your website from mobile to desktop by selecting the phone icon in the upper left corner of the site design screen, indicated in the picture below. Once you have added your initial designs, click “Done” and a new series of design options will appear, including updating your header, main banner, featured items, email newsletter section, and footer. Simply click on each section and an editor will appear; you can then add your customization with no CS knowledge. Another design option you can access from this screen is adding a new section, page, item, or category to your site. Click on the “Add Section” button at the bottom of your design menu or the “plus” icon at the top of your editing screen to view all the options. Select the item you want to add, and an editor page will appear. You will easily be able to add new pages, like an “About Us” or contact page. Additionally, you can link to your Instagram, add new product categories, create a membership program, add events, and more. Step 4: Add Items to Sell Once you have your store design in place, the next thing Square will prompt you to do from the control panel is to build your online catalog. To begin, simply select “Online Catalog” and then click “Add an item to sell.” This selection will take you straight to your item library where you can start adding new inventory. From there, the process is simple. You can either select “Create New Item” and upload products individually, or you can select “Add Item.” This option allows you to either upload existing inventory from your POS via the “Add from Item Library” button or inventory from a delivery service via the “Add from a delivery service.” Square is integrated with nearly every major delivery service on the market, so if you have inventory on one of them, you can simply import them straight to your online store. To add new items to your inventory catalog, follow the steps below to fill out your product pages. Step 5: Set Up Your Domain Once you have your website designed and your store configured, the next thing Square will prompt you to do is set up your website URL. Simply click the “Set up your domain” button and you will be given three options: Find a custom domain: This option allows you to create a custom domain for your site, and Square will check for its availability. This option also requires upgrading to a paid Square Online plan. Use a domain I own somewhere else: If you already own a domain from a third-party service like GoDaddy or Google, you can connect it to your Square Online store. This option also requires upgrading to a paid plan. Use a free Square subdomain: This option puts your website under Square’s subdomain. For example, if you have a pet store named after your dog Andy, you can set your domain as andythepitbull.square.site for free. Once you know the option you want to pursue, simply select it, and Square will provide you with a field where you can add your domain. Step 6: Add Shipping Rates With your domain set, the next thing Square will prompt you to do is set your shipping rates. Simply, select "Fulfill Orders” and click “Set Up Shipping Rates.” From there, you will come to the page below. On the screen above, simply click “Set up shipping” and Square will ask you to add your “Shipping From” address. Square will automatically populate this field with your store’s address, but you can change it if needed (for example, if you’re shipping from a warehouse). Then, hit save, and your shipping page will populate with new options, as seen below. One of those new options is “Shipping Carriers,” where you can link your FedEx, UPS, DHL, and USPS carrier accounts. Simply click “Manage” and then follow the prompts to link your accounts. Then, you will input your shipping rates in the “Shipping Profiles” section. Just click “Set Up” and you will go to a form, pictured below, where you can set up shipping rates for each region you want to ship to, or for specific items. To get up and running quickly, you may want to set one flat shipping rate. You can always add promotional shipping options or customized rates later. Step 7: Set Up Taxes The next step you will want to take is to set up procedures to collect the proper taxes on your sales. As with the previous steps, this is the next thing that Square will prompt you to do, and you simply need to select the “Set up taxes” button to get started. Clicking this button will take you to your Sales Tax page, where you will select “Let’s get started” to begin your configuration. Square will then walk you through a series of questions where you will have the option to delineate your fulfillment, apply different tax rates for different items, indicate your business as tax-exempt, and then add your location so that appropriate tax rates are applied. Based on the answers to your questions, Square will recommend a tax rate to apply to all purchases through your site. To activate, simply click save and your tax settings will be ready! Step 8: Create Checkout Policies With your taxes set, you are technically at the end of the Square-prompted setup process. However, we recommend also adding in your checkout policies before going live with your site (and additional fulfillment methods, which we will go over in the following step). To begin setting up your checkout policies, head over to the “Settings” tab in the right-hand menu and select “Checkout.” Collecting Payments The first thing that you will see in the Checkout page is the Collect Payments section. You’ll see that your account, along with all Square Online accounts, is automatically configured to process online payments through Square Payments. Square Payments is set up to accept all kinds of payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, Square gift cards, and mobile payment options like Apple Pay. The settings that you can adjust here include: Whether you will be accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay Whether you will be offering an Afterpay option Whether you will be accepting PayPal payments (paid plans only) Whether you will be accepting Cash App payments All you need to do here is toggle your preferences on/off and then hit Save. Checkout Experience If you scroll down on the Checkout page, you will see that in addition to your payment settings, you can also adjust your checkout experience in a variety of ways. As you can see in the image below, Square gives you options to: Add a tipping option Require customer information Add shipping and return policies to the checkout page To set up your checkout experience, simply click the edit buttons in each section, and Square will prompt you through the process. Step 9: Establish Pickup & Delivery Options As we mentioned earlier, while you do input a fulfillment method during the initial configuration of your store, if you want to add more options—for example, curbside pickup—you can do that from your Square Online control panel. Simply head over to the menu on the left hand of your screen, select the "Fulfillment" tab, and then click “Pickup and Delivery.” This will take you to the page below, where you can start adding pickup options. To begin adding pickup and delivery, simply click “Set up location.” Square will then prompt you through a series of forms (pictured below), where you can opt in to Pickup and Delivery methods for your store and configure settings like pickup times and order prep. Step 10: Preview & Publish Your Site Finally, your Square Online store is ready to launch. At this stage, you will want to give everything a final check from the customer’s point of view by previewing your site. Simply return to your website editor by selecting the “Website” tab from the left-hand menu, and click “Edit Site.” Click the “Preview” button in the upper right corner. Make your final check, adjusting and editing your site as needed. You can even share the preview via a link if you want fresh eyes. Once you're satisfied, click Publish in the top right corner to take your site live. Even after your site is published, you can adjust any element (including design product pages, inventory, store policies, and shipping or delivery details). You can also add pages such as an About Us page, customer testimonials, or social media channels. Finally, you can include more features like collecting customer emails to grow a newsletter, selling tickets to events, and starting a membership program. Ready to get started? Create a free Square account and start selling online today. Square Online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Click through the questions below to get answers to some of your most common questions about Square Online. Bottom Line A free Square Online store is an excellent platform for small businesses wanting to take their operations online quickly. Setup is swift and product entry is seamless, and it's easy to track inventory and orders once your store takes off. Plus, as your business grows, you can take advantage of Square’s free POS app for in-person sales, and add additional ecommerce and marketing tools to scale your business. Open your free Square account and launch your online store today. You May Also Like… How to start an online store How to start a retail business