Black Friday digital advertising spend indicates a return to confidence

Businesses are confident consumer spending habits will rise for this winter according to recent data supplied by accounting platform Dext.

Companies have spent far more than in previous years on Facebook, Google and LinkedIn advertising in 2021, anticipating a wave of spending around this year’s Black Friday, on 26 November 2021.

Based on 14,324 business transactions by UK Dext users in 2021, there has been a 24.55% increase in spending on Google advertising since October 2020.

Advertising on Facebook also recovered after an 8.28% decrease in year-on-year spending between October 2019 and October 2020.

Average Facebook spend rose 12.69% this year from £764 to £861 per transaction.

The biggest change since the pandemic has been the 75.97% increase in average spend for digital advertising on LinkedIn, which fell from £484 to £387 last October and has recovered to £681, based on 4,050 submissions.

Additional spending on B2C and B2B advertising suggests that businesses trust consumer demand will recover to pre-pandemic levels this year, despite the UK’s sluggish 1.3% Q3 growth.

Dext Director Paul Ashfar said: “Last year, many businesses erred against additional spending on digital advertising ahead of Black Friday ahead of anticipated lockdowns.

“It is encouraging that investment has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels and that businesses are positioning themselves for growth.

“These trends acknowledge that businesses trust consumers to spend this November– a promising sign of better things to come.”

Taken as a whole, spending habits in 2021 have steadily grown since last year. According to Dext business transaction data, in 2020 business reached a pandemic spending low of less than £2000 a month but climbed to over £6000 month in September 2021.

Average spend on Facebook and LinkedIn fell during the pandemic as consumer spending dried up.

Average spending on Facebook advertising for 2020 fell from £911 to £870 per transaction, and then rose to £897 this year.

Spending on LinkedIn followed a similar pattern, falling from £471 to £427 in 2020 and then rising to £473 per transaction.

Gathered from the Dext customer base of over one million users, these trends highlight a new faith that spending by businesses and consumers will continue to recover into the new year.