Black Friday pulled in a record $6.22 billion in online sales, up 23.6 percent from a year ago, according to a new report.
The Friday after Thanksgiving this year was also the first day in history to see more than $2 billion in sales stemming from smartphones, said Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions for 80 of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S. The group said 33.5 percent of e-commerce sales Friday came from mobile devices, compared with 29.1 percent in 2017.
“Retailers have done their part to build better mobile experiences for consumers and turning nearly 10 percent more smartphone visitors into buyers this Black Friday versus last,” Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement.
Shoppers were seen buying more big-ticket items like appliances, furniture and bulkier electronics from their phones as well, with average order values up 8.5 percent year over year to reach $146, Schreiner added.
Earlier in the week, sales online Thanksgiving Day totaled $3.7 billion, up 28 percent from a year ago, Adobe said, making it the fastest-growing day for e-commerce sales in history. Thursday also saw $1 billion in sales from smartphones, according to Adobe, with shoppers spending 8 percent more online Thursday compared with a year ago.
For the first time, according to Adobe, online prices Thanksgiving Day “were as low as on Black Friday,” potentially stealing some of Black Friday’s traditional throngs of shoppers at malls and other stores. There were reports that traffic at many shopping malls Friday was lighter than in past years. Instead, more consumers were turning to their phones or desktop computers to look for deals.
Kohl’s said it has a record day for online sales this Thursday, with Cyber Monday still to come. Adobe is expecting Cyber Monday sales online to set a new record of $7.8 billion, up nearly 18 percent from last year.