Americans shopped freely on Black Friday as online spending soared to a record $10.8 billion.
This sales figure includes a staggering $11.3 million spent every minute between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving, when most shoppers were out hunting for holiday bargains. He was using a mobile phone rather than a computer. Data provided by Adobe Analytics.
Overall spending on the day, which many consider the start of the holiday shopping season, rose 3.4%, according to Mastercard Spending Pulse, which tracks all types of transactions. According to Mastercard, in-store sales in 2023 increased by just 0.7% compared to Black Friday.
According to RetailNext, which reports traffic analysis, in-store traffic is down -3.2% nationwide compared to last year.
Adobe says generative AI-powered chat bots are having a huge impact on shoppers, with chat bot traffic to retail sites soaring 1,800% compared to last year’s Black Friday.
“Crossing the $10 billion mark is a significant milestone for Black Friday, a day that has traditionally focused on in-store shopping,” Vivek Pandya, principal analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement. “This is a major e-commerce milestone.”
“And with consumers becoming more comfortable with everything from mobile shopping to chat bots, there are tailwinds that could fuel online growth in the upcoming Black Friday.”
Wicked-related products, including Harry Potter Lego sets and Disney princess dolls, were the top sellers. Shoppers also stocked up on cosmetics, Bluetooth products, smartwatches and more.
Adobe said discounts were “better than expected,” but shoppers “also accepted higher-priced ticket items” even as they looked for discounted prices amid ongoing concerns about inflation. .
Manhattan-based Reprise Activewear is one company that benefited from the cyber splurge.
Founder Mary Bemis, 33, said Black Friday was the company’s second-best day of the season. The site sells plant-based, non-toxic clothing.
The best-selling day was what the company calls “Green Friday,” which it started last week to make up for the shortened shopping season, compared to a relatively leisurely 31 days last year, from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It took only 26 days.
Mr Bemis, 33, said: “There are people who are using the transaction, but I feel like they’re still spending a lot of money compared to the average order value.”
Soho-based Two Blind Brothers is offering customers the opportunity to ‘buy a blind’ and purchase amazing clothing items to raise money for foundations that fight blindness. Over the past week, traffic has increased by 13% with a 20% traffic spike. Co-founder Bradford Manning, 39, said there will be discounts on purchases.
While the digital space was packed with shoppers, brick-and-mortar stores weren’t drawing the huge crowds they once did.
The exception is Target, which is selling several stores across the U.S. to celebrate the release of a limited edition book featuring Taylor Swift’s Elas Tour and a bonus edition of her album The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. There was a line all night long at the location.
Both became available online on Saturday, but many stores were sold out of stock, the discount retailer said.
But for most other stores, it was a typical shopping day, said Marshall Cohen, principal retail advisor at market research firm Sarcana, who spent the day scouting shopping centers on Long Island.
“The spread of the holidays created a lack of need and urgency,” said Cohen, who led a 20-person team monitoring crowds across the country. “This is going to be a long, slow, tedious process” to get shoppers to buy, he said.
Michael Brown, a partner at management consulting firm Kearney, said there were no lines at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, on Thursday.
“This is not the old Black Friday we once knew,” he said.
with post wire
