US shoppers spend record $9.8B online on Black Friday

By Anadolu Staff

ISTANBUL (AA) – US consumers spent a record $9.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 7.5% from the previous year, local media reported.

“We’ve seen a very strategic consumer emerge over the past year, where they’re really trying to take advantage of these marquee days so that they can maximize on discounts,” Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, told CNBC on Saturday.

According to the report, Black Friday’s top-selling categories were smartwatches, televisions, toys and gaming.

Earlier, Adobe Analytics, which covers most US online retailing sites, reported that Americans spent $5.6 billion in online shopping on Thanksgiving Day, up 5.5% from last year.

The retail sector in the US sees a pivotal period commencing with Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year, followed by the widespread discounted shopping frenzy of Black Friday.

This holiday shopping season continues with Small Business Saturday, designed to boost sales for small businesses, and Cyber Monday, the Monday following Thanksgiving weekend and the second-biggest shopping day and biggest day for online sales.

Important for the retail sector, the shopping season extends through Christmas and culminates with a grand finale on New Year's Eve.

*Dilara Zengin Okay in Washington contributed to this story