This year's Black Friday shopping event in the United States has proven to be one of the largest ever in terms of the total amount spent. The biggest difference, when compared to previous years, is that more people are now spending their money shopping online.
According to data published by Adobe Analytics, over $7.4 billion were spent by American consumers online during the Black Friday sale, $2.9 billion of which were made using a smartphone. This had resulted in a decrease in traffic and sales at physical brick-and-mortar stores across the country. The massive surge in online shoppers was matched by a 6.2 percent decline in brick-and-mortar store sales.
The amount spent online at last week's sales marks a new record for online purchases in the United States. It is currently the second-largest online sales day in the country, right behind last year's Cyber Monday sale, which saw consumers spend more than $7.45 billion.
This year's Cyber Monday post-thanksgiving shopping event is expected to set another record, with estimates pegging total spending to be around $9.4 billion. According to the US National Retail Federation, it expects there to be more than 69 million shoppers to take advantage of bargains during the event. The group also predicts that total retail sales in the US, both online and offline, over the last two months of this year could increase by 3.8 percent up to $730.7 billion.
Data from Adobe Analytics shows that the most common items that were sold to online consumers were Frozen 2 merchandise, "LOL Surprise" dolls, Fifa 20 video game copies, and the Nintendo video gaming console. Under the electronics category, Apple products and Samsung OLED TVs were among the top sellers.
Analysts have stated that more and more people in this day and age now prefer to jump into their computers and smartphones to shop for the thing they want. People are no longer willing to wait in line to shop for products and retailers are now making it easier for consumers to avail of their massive discounts online.
Promotions such as "buy online and pick up in-store" have become very common amongst retailers, significant changing the act of shopping for millions of US consumers. While the new tactics have negatively affected in-store sales, it has managed to boost overall revenues of retailers participating in the shopping events. Stores are now seeing better customer retention and brand loyalties through these strategies, which in turn boost overall revenues.
