Black Friday shoppers wait to enter the Coach store on the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 25, 2022.
Seth Herald | AFP | Getty Images
Consumers spent a record $9.12 billion online shopping during Black Friday this yr, in line with Adobe, which tracks sales on retailers’ web sites.
Overall online sales for the day after Thanksgiving were up 2.3% yr over yr, and electronics were a significant contributor, as online sales surged 221% over a median day in October, Adobe said. Toys were one other popular category for shoppers, up 285%, as was exercise equipment, up 218%.
Many consumers embraced flexible payment plans on Black Friday as they proceed to grapple with high prices and inflation. Buy Now Pay Later payments increased by 78% compared with the past week, starting Nov. 19, and Buy Now Pay Later revenue is up 81% for a similar period.
A few of this yr’s hottest items included gaming consoles, drones, Apple MacBooks, Dyson products and toys like Fortnite, Roblox, Bluey, Funko Pop! and Disney Encanto, in line with the report.
Black Friday shoppers also broke a record for mobile orders, as 48% of online sales were made on smartphones, a rise from 44% last yr.
The record-breaking spending comes on the heels of a powerful day of Thanksgiving shopping, through which consumers shelled out an all-time high of $5.29 billion online, up 2.9% year-over-year. Typically, shoppers spend about $2 billion to $3 billion online in a day, in line with Adobe.Â
For retailers, these numbers could also be a promising indicator of the approaching weeks. Early holiday forecasts have been muted, and Goal, Macy’s, Nordstrom and other retailers reported a lull in sales in late October and early November. Consumer sentiment has also weakened up to now month as inflation hovers near four-decade highs.
Though Black Friday is over, e-commerce activity will remain strong through the weekend, in line with Adobe’s report. Adobe expects consumers to spend $4.52 billion on Saturday and $4.99 billion on Sunday, ahead of the yr’s biggest online shopping day, Cyber Monday.
This yr, Cyber Monday is predicted to drive $11.2 billion in spending, up 5.1% year-over-year, in line with Adobe.
