Adobe Analytics Expects $7 Billion+ Spending on Black Friday
The evident dominance of online shopping over traditional shopping became clear with this year’s Black Friday sales. An expenditure estimate of $4.2 Billion on Thanksgiving Day represented an astronomical 14.5% jump compared to last year. The National Retail Federation is bracing itself for even more buyers over the weekend and puts the estimate at 165 million shoppers.
Black Friday Records Breaking
Adobe Analytics, which monitors the transactions of 80 of the top 100 online retailers in the US, reported a big jump this year. While on Thursday, it estimated that this year’s Black Friday spending would hit $4.4 Billion, the estimation almost came true. The actual spending was shy of the estimation by just $0.2 Billion.
According to Adobe Analytics, this year’s Black Friday spending is rallying towards the $7.4 billion thresholds. As the numbers stood by 9 a.m. ET, money spent online by shoppers, was at $600 million. This figure is a 19.2% jump compared to the same time last year.
The Online Craze
The extent to which online shopping is affecting brick and mortar stores was clear on the eve of Thanksgiving. As opposed to typical Black Fridays where long queues were the norm, this time around, by Thursday evening, online shoppers had spent $2 Billion online.
Smartphone sales ruled the order of the day, accounting for up to half the revenue generated on Thanksgiving Day. This was a gigantic 24.4% increase on the same products compared to the last Thanksgiving Day sales. Ecommerce sites also registered big wins this Black Friday. The giants such as Amazon saw a combined 244% increase in sales while the smaller retailers recorded a 61% increase according to the report by Adobe.
This year’s Black Friday comes a week later compared to the same period last year. This means that this year, shoppers have a week less to complete all their shopping. The National Retail Federation, however, expressed optimism that more than 165 million online shoppers will join in the craze.
More Numbers
Adobe also reports that shoppers spent to the tune of $57.2 Billion between the 1st and 28th of November. The company further estimates that these numbers will grow to up to $143.7 Billion during the full holiday season.
Brick and mortar stores that invested in online shopping facilities also reported spikes in the sales made this Black Friday. Walmart and Target both saw bigger jumps in online spending in the first two weeks of November. The spikes were higher than those reported by e-commerce giant Amazon. Experts observe that this jump is a result of the stores offering their shoppers a more convenient manner of shopping.
Market observers and analysts predict that this Black Friday, more people will make orders and then make their pickups from the same stores. Another figure expected to grow this year is the number of people opting to have their items shipped to them. Analysts also expect that the Trade War will not affect consumer spending, which grew 2.9% in the third quarter. This is after shrinking in the first and second quarters.
