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Online shoppers spent a record $10.8 billion on Black Friday, a 10.2% increase from a year ago, according to preliminary data from Adobe Digital Insights.
Online shoppers were especially active between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday, spending $11.3 million per minute during that period. Products seeing the strongest surge in sales online include toys, jewelry, appliances, personal care, apparel, and electronics.
The data also indicates holiday shoppers are increasingly favoring online purchases as opposed to shopping in-store during the annual shopping event. In 2017, for example, online shoppers spent $5.03 billion on Black Friday, Adobe says.
Buy now, pay later accounted for $686.3 million in online spend on Black Friday. up 8.8% from last year.
Discounts were a big driver for online sales. Discounts on toys peaked at 27.8% off list price. Other heavily discounted products include electronics, up 27.4% off list price, televisions, up to 24.2% off, apparel, up to 22.2% off, computers, up to 22% off, and sporting goods, up to 19.5% off.
Generative AI-powered chatbots also played a substantial role in driving traffic to merchant Web sites on Black Friday, increasing that traffic 18 times over a year ago.
That trend reflects consumers’ growing dependence on chatbots to help online shoppers find the best deal, Adobe says. A recent survey of 5,000 consumers by Adobe shows that 20% of respondents say they turn to these bots to find the best deals. In addition, 19% of respondents say they use them to quickly find specific items online, while 15% use them for recommendations.
“Crossing the $10-billion mark is a big e-commerce milestone for Black Friday, for a day that in the past was more anchored towards in-store shopping”, Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, says in a statement. “With consumers getting more comfortable with everything from mobile shopping to chatbots, we have tailwinds that can prop up online growth for Black Friday moving forward.”
Overall, Black Friday retail sales, excluding automotive, increased 3.4% from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.
The overall sales figures posted for Black Friday, traditionally considered the official start of the holiday-shopping season, are a good indication that consumers are willing to spend, especially since many retailers begin offering Black Friday deals well in advance of the actual day itself to provide shoppers a larger window to find deals, Mastercard says.
With the first weekend of the holiday-shopping season ending, Adobe is forecasting a record $13.2 billion in consumer spending on Cyber Monday, a 6.1% increase from a year ago.
Spending during Cyber Week, the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, is forecast to generate $40.6 billion in sales, up 7% from the same period a year ago. Overall, Adobe forecasts Cyber Week will account for 16.9% of sales for the holiday shopping season.
