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Some holiday cheer for retailers: Consumers spent more than $9 billion in online sales this Black Friday

DAN RAFTER NOVEMBER 27, 2023



IMAGE BY WOKANDAPIX FROM PIXABAY

Retailers received an early holiday gift this year: Shoppers spent more than $9 billion in U.S. online sales on Black Friday.

According to Adobe Analytics, U.S. shoppers spent $9.8 billion when shopping online this Black Friday. That is up 7.5% from last year.

And that’s not the only good news for retailers. Adobe also predicts that Cyber Week, which runs from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, will generate $37.2 billion in U.S. online sales, accounting for about 17% of all sales for the holiday season.

Researchers for Adobe said that this Black Friday saw an all-time high in dollars spent.

“Black Friday re-asserted its dominance this season,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst with Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “The decline in online prices over the last year has created a favorable environment for consumers with strong discounts this season that are tempting even the most price conscious consumers.”

What did shoppers buy this holiday season from their laptops, tablets and phones? Smartphones topped the list.

According to Adobe, smartphones accounted for $5.3 billion of online sales on Black Friday, up 10.4% from last year. Smartphone sales accounted for 54% of all online sales on the day after Thanksgiving.

This doesn’t mean that shoppers were willing to spend indiscriminately this Black Friday. Adobe reported that consumers were frugal in at least one way: They didn’t overspend for faster shipping. According to the company’s research, 80.5% of online shoppers this Black Friday used standard shipping, instead of pricier and faster options, when ordering their items.