Coined five years ago by Clint Mahlman, CEO of London Drugs, a “Black Friday Shadow” occurs just before that sales day and just after Cyber Monday.  The former is due to shoppers waiting to see the “best” deals; as noted in the 2018 DIG360-Leger Black Friday Report, 40% of those who bought postponed a purchase until they could see the right Black Friday offers.  The latter is due to shopping fatigue after the peak weekend.  There are subsequent spikes leading up to December 25th, and of course Boxing Day.  These likewise will have offsetting slow days.

The issue is that variation between peaks and valleys is increasing.  This will put strains on supply chain, in-store inventories and staff, as well as online delivery systems and partners.  Urban Barn is one retailer that is proactively sharing predictive data with delivery companies to better aniticpate demands in the system.