Online shoppers didn’t hang about on Black Friday with sales reaching a record $7.4 billion in the U.S., according to data from Adobe Analytics.
The figure marked a new online sales record for Black Friday, beating last year’s revenue by $1.2 billion. It was also the second-biggest online shopping day ever in the U.S. in terms of revenue, trailing 2018’s Cyber Monday which generated sales totaling $7.9 billion.
Shoppers were splashing the cash on a wide range of goodies on Friday, with Adobe Analytics highlighting electronics such as Samsung TVs, Instant Pots, and Apple AirPods as particularly popular items.
Away from tech, Frozen 2, L.oL, Surprise, and Beyblades toys also flew off the virtual shelves.
Notably, the data showed that online shoppers are increasingly using their smartphones to make purchases, with 34.4% of all e-commerce sales having been made on a phone so far this season, up by 24.1% over the same period last year.
Much more to come
Looking ahead, Adobe is forecasting that Cyber Monday will set a new record with $9.4 billion in sales, which, if accurate, will mark an 18.9% increase on a year ago.
If you still have some spare cash left after Black Friday and are looking to bag a bargain, be sure to check out Digital Trends’ up to date information on the best Cyber Monday deals available.
“The weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is emerging as a truly lucrative period for online commerce,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe, said in a release, adding, “Consumers are taking advantage of post-Black Friday deals and are accelerating spend in the run-up to Cyber Monday.”
Adobe Analytics’ retail report is one of the most comprehensive sets of insights of its kind in the industry. The data comes from an analysis of more than one trillion visits to retail sites and transactions from 80 of the top 100 U.S. online retailers.
The global figure for Black Friday online sales isn’t clear, but it would do well to beat Alibaba’s recent Singles’ Day sale, which saw web shoppers around the world spend an astonishing $38.4 billion, beating last year’s figure by $7 billion. Sales reached $1 billion in the first 60 seconds, before blasting past $10 billion in just half an hour.
