Online buying hit a record on Black Friday; 54% of such purchases were made on a smartphone،
Online shopping yesterday set a record for Black Friday as
Adobe Analytics (via
TechCrunch) recorded $9.8 billion in U.S. sales for the first Friday after Thanksgiving, the official
start of the U.S. Christmas shopping season. Not only is this a healthy 7.5% year-over-year gain, but the figure also beats analyst estimates that predicted $9.6 billion in Black Friday online sales for 2023.
In a statement, Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail at Salesforce, said: “Black Friday online sales performance exceeded the expectations of any retail executive. Retailers stepped up their discounting game and shoppers, in turn, clicked the buy button. Adobe Analytics also noted that discounts offered during Black Friday reached 35% of the retail price. Smartphone sales accounted for $5.3 billion of the $9.8 billion in online sales Friday, or 54 percent. Adobe Analytics says this will prove to be the “norm” for this year, with smartphone sales volume expected to account for 51% of the total during this holiday shopping period.
Vivek Pandya, principal analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, explained the strength of Black Friday online sales this year. “Black Friday reasserted its dominance this season with record spending of $9.8 billion, driven by new demand for the big sales day,” Pandya said. “Lower prices online over the last year have created a favorable environment for consumers, with deep discounts this season tempting even the most price-conscious consumers.”
The closer we got to Black Friday, the deeper the discounts became
Consumers are ready to cut shipping costs this year, as Adobe noted that 80.5% of online orders come with standard shipping. This certainly makes sense for Black Friday given that the actual holiday is still a month away. In other words, there’s no reason to fork out for faster shipping when it’s not necessary, although that percentage may decrease as we get closer to Christmas Day.
Adobe also predicts that the “Cyber Week” shopping period, which runs from Thanksgiving to the next “Cyber Monday,” will generate $37.2 billion in online sales, or 17% of all sales during the holiday shopping season.
