Online Black Friday sales broke sales records last week despite ongoing economic uncertainty and inflation worries.
Key Details
- This year’s Black Friday sales saw $9.12 billion in online sales—predominantly fueled by electronic sales.
- The record-breaking sales numbers surprised some analysts who had expected lower sales this year due to high inflation.
- Black Friday sales were up approximately 2.3% compared to last year.
- The most popular purchases were electronics, smart-home devices, gaming consoles and games, toys, and exercise equipment.
Why it’s news
As the average cost of living has increased with inflation-driven prices, Black Friday sales this year weren’t expected to break any records. Yet, despite the economic pressure, consumers were still willing to buy.
But shoppers were looking outside of traditional payment options for their Christmas gifts this year. Buy now, pay later buying options were up 78% from the week before. Many consumers also used credit cards and savings to make their holiday purchases, Axios reports.
While Black Friday is known for long lines and hectic in-person shopping, a growing number of customers made their Black Friday purchases online.
Black Friday sales may have seen record numbers at $9.12 billion, but the items consumers purchased this year were also more expensive, meaning the actual volume of goods sold may tell a different story.
Backing up a bit
The title of highest grossing shopping day now belongs to Cyber Monday rather than Black Friday.
Online deal-hunting following Black Friday began when consumers waited until Monday to use better internet at their workplace. Now it has transformed into one of the most profitable online shopping days.
Black Friday still brings in more physical shoppers—around 93.2 million in 2019—but Cyber Monday generates nearly $2 billion in revenue.
Retailers have taken advantage of the love for online shopping by offering significant holiday discounts to draw in more consumers.