US: Black Friday online shopping reached record $9B

ANKARA

Black Friday online shopping in the US has reached an all-time highest level of $9 billion amid COVID-19 pandemic as American consumers have turned to internet sales.

Unlike past years when millions of Americans flooded retailers in the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving, people this year chose to shop via their computers and smartphones to take advantage of the ultimate annual sale and discount day to kick off their shopping frenzy for Christmas season.

During Black Friday, US consumers spent $6.3 million per minute while they were shopping online, or $27.5 per person on average, according to Adobe Analytics data released on Saturday.

Spending on smartphones increased 25.3% on Black Friday, from last year, to reach $3.6 billion this year, as smartphones represented 40% of all e-commerce spending.

Overall, consumer spending on Black Friday this year also marked a 21.6% increase from last year, according to Adobe.

Despite the record, however, this year's Black Friday became the second-biggest online spending day in US history, behind Cyber Monday in 2019, Adobe said.

The data analytics firm noted that Cyber Monday 2020 is estimated to become the largest online spending day in history.

During Thursday's Thanksgiving Day, consumer spending via internet soared to hit a new record of $5.1B -- an increase of 21.4% from last year's $4.2 billion.