With Black Friday ready to roll into town and onto the web this week, affiliates will be looking to ensure they’ve covered all the bases in order to make November 27 a day to remember.

Retailers have been told to ignore Black Friday at their own risk, given that many of their competitors may be offering promotions on the day. Billions will be spent both in-store and online; if 2014 is anything to go by, websites will crash, and word from analysts is that 2015 could establish the US-imported sales bonanza as a global phenomenon.

Thus, for any affiliate, resources like zanox’s latest whitepaper offering a “global perspective” on Black Friday could come in handy as they look to capitalise on the annual festival of sales. 

Found here, the guide outlines a series of interesting segments for publishers to bear in mind, and we’ve picked four of the most important to consider ahead of the big day.

1. Cyber Monday is bigger (in places)

Data gleaned from the zanox affiliate network shows that while Black Friday is the key online sales date in a number of territories, Cyber Monday still reigns supreme in plenty of others. A look into the peaks in sales revenue for both France and the Netherlands shows Cyber Monday being the better performing of the two.

But there are nations that have made Black Friday their own, including Spain…

… Sweden

… The UK

… And perhaps most noticeably, Brazil. 

2.  Growth in AOVs may not translate to commission

Despite many people using Black Friday to grab themselves a bargain, there is every chance that the sheer volume of deals being presented may cause them to purchase more items than usual, potentially resulting in a higher average order value (AOV).

Zanox highlights a 17% rise in order values globally during Black Friday 2014 when compared with a typical Friday, the total rising to just over €100, but commission only rose by 15%.  

Affiliates have been tipped to earn almost €5.30 for every sale driven, based on figures from 2014.

3. It’s not all about mobile

A strong mobile user experience could prove to be a key commission driver for affiliates operating in certain spaces, but zanox data shows that desktops are still the king when it comes to pushing people over the line.

One look at the group’s analysis of Black Friday sales from last year shows the gulf in contribution between handheld devices and the desktop, which was found to be contributing 62% of sales – above tablet on 20% and smartphones on 18%.

While the growing acceptance of mobile purchasing in some spaces may even things out to an extent, smartphones and tablets seemingly have some catching up to do.

4. Tablets = transactions  

Last year’s Black Friday saw tablet devices, offering an experience similar to that of a desktop, trumping smartphones on the transaction front, and particularly during the later stages of the day.

A review from 2014 shows a peak in mobile transactions as a whole between 20:00 – 23:00, perhaps when people are settling down at home with their chosen device. Smartphones even enjoy a moment around mid-morning, when they’re nearly on a par with tablet. 

It’s not all doom for the smartphone, though, as zanox highlights its ability to drive mobile traffic and the value of that. 

“A channel that is dependent on conversions may now have to deal with mobile devices that drive a huge amount of casual browsing and less considered, early-funnel activity. If this is the case we may have to introduce new commercial models for affiliates who generate a significant amount of smartphone clicks.”

With Black Friday just days away from rearing its head, it will be interesting to see whether the aforementioned trends are to be observed once again, or if we could be looking at a completely different set of data in the aftermath.