Black Friday weekend sets e-commerce records
The official online holiday shopping season is off to a very strong start.
According to data from both Adobe and Salesforce, e-commerce sales reached new heights during Black Friday weekend (Thursday, Nov. 23 – Sunday, Nov. 26). Consumers spent a record $9.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 7.5% year-over-year (YoY), reported Adobe Analytics. Electronics were a major growth driver, with online Black Friday sales up 152% from average daily sales in October 2023. Toys and gaming were also strong categories.
While online dominated, consumers also flocked to physical stores on Black Friday, with in-store up 4.6% compared to last year, according to Sensormatic Solutions. It was the most significant Black Friday increase in recent memory, the company said.
Spending on Black Friday followed a record-breaking Thanksgiving Day, where consumers spent $5.6 billion online, up 5.5% YoY and nearly double $2.87 billion spent online on Thanksgiving in 2017. Adobe said the increases highlight the continued shift to more spending online.
Online spending also reached heights on Saturday and Sunday of the holiday weekend, with consumers spending $10.3 billion in total, more than on Black Friday and up 7.7% YoY. This figure includes $5 billion on Saturday, up 8.1% YoY and $5.3 billion on Sunday, up 6.4% YoY.
Season-to-date (Nov. 1 to Nov. 26), consumers have spent a total of $96.6 billion online, up 7% YoY, according to Adobe. (Adobe figures are not adjusted for inflation, but if online deflation were factored in, growth in consumer spend would be even stronger. )
"Black Friday re-asserted its dominance this season with record spend of $9.8 billion driven by new demand for the major sales’ day,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “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.”
Salesforce
As in 2022, Salesforce tabulated significantly higher e-commerce sales on Black Friday than Adobe, recording online sales on Black Friday totaling a record-setting $16.4 billion in the U.S. and $70.9 billion globally. This represented 9% YoY growth in the U.S. and 8% YoY growth globally.
After lackluster deals earlier in the season, Salesforce says heavier discounts enticed consumers to buy on Black Friday, with discounts rising to 30% in the U.S. and 28% globally.
During the weekend of Nov. 25-26, Salesforce data indicates online sales rose 6% in the U.S. and 7% globally YoY. Salesforce also estimated Thanksgiving online sales to be up 2% YoY both in the U.S. and around the world.
[Read more: Exclusive Q&A: Rob Garf, VP and GM of retail, Salesforce]
“As Black Friday and Cyber Monday battle it out for the largest online shopping day, one thing is for sure, consumer spending remains resilient as they diligently search for – and buy – attractive deals,” said Rob Garf, VP and GM of retail, Salesforce. “Black Friday online sales performance exceeded any retail executive’s expectations. Retailers stepped up their discounting game and shoppers, in turn, clicked the buy button.”
Mobile, BNPL, BOPIS drive Black Friday weekend sales
Data from both Adobe and Salesforce indicates that mobile devices, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) payments and omnichannel pickup option played a major role in overall strong digital sales performance during Black Friday weekend.
According to Adobe, smartphones accounted for $5.3 billion of all online sales on Black Friday, up 10.4% YoY, and accounted for 54% of online sales. Adobe expects mobile to overtake desktop for the first time this holiday season, with more than half (51.2%) of spend online to take place on mobile.
Adobe data also shows that BNPL usage is significantly up YoY during the whole holiday season so far, and drove $760 million in online sales across Nov. 25-26, up 20% YoY.
Similarly, Salesforce data shows that mobile traffic represented 82% of digital commerce traffic globally and in the U.S. throughout the weekend. Salesforce data also indicates that 24% of online orders during Black Friday and 20% of online orders during the weekend of Nov. 25-26 used buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) fulfillment.