Shoppers hunting for deals are bypassing busy malls and crowded stores on Black Friday and buying online. Black Friday deals, including early savings on Thanksgiving, reached an estimated $3 billion, with close to $2 billion in sales on Friday alone.
More stores were opening early and extending Black Friday deals to Thanksgiving, with some stores opening at 6 p.m. on Thursday, to maximize potential sales. Shoppers definitely approved of this move with their wallets but it appears as though many people are looking online for savings as Black Friday deals were not exclusively for in-store purchases and retailers offered more online Black Friday deals.
Agence France-Presse is reporting estimated sales of $1.06 billion for Thanksgiving and $1.93 billion for Black Friday, a 39 percent increase from 2012. The numbers come from Adobe's Digital Index 2013 online shopping data which analyzed around 400 million visits at more than 2,000 online retailers.
The busiest time for retailers was on Black Friday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. where shoppers spent $150 million in one hour. In the battle between "brick-and click," retailers with physical and online storefronts, and "online only," brick-and-click retailers were the big winner, outselling online-only by a 3-to-1 ratio, reports Adobe.
Electronics, such as tablets and smart phones, were the "must-have" items for Black Friday shoppers, notes AFP. iPad sales reached $417 million, iPhone sales reached $126 million, Android smartphones had $106 million in sales and Android tablets generated $42 million in sales.
Adobe reports the biggest social media movers were Amazon, more than 450,000 posts mentioning the e-retailer, Walmart iPad and PlayStation 4. The NFL also got a big boost due to the traditional Thanksgiving day games. Walmart had more than 300,000 mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media sites.
The next-gen console wars between Sony's PS4 had Microsoft's Xbox One also had a clear winner. According to Adobe, the PS4 was mentioned three times as much as the Xbox One on various social media sites. It is unclear if the ratio was specific to Black Friday shopping and could have been skewed as the PS4 was just launched in Europe which would greatly increase the number of mentions on social media sites.
The increase in online sales could be due to the various ways a shopper can spend. Los Angeles Times reports an estimated $12.1 billion generated in Black Friday sales at brick-and-mortar stores, a 2.3 percent gain from 2012. That small increase was expected and some experts believe that may have been due to online sales.
While many shoppers went online, the biggest increase was reported in mobile sales. Adobe reports 24 percent of all online sales were done on smartphones and tablets, a 118 percent increase from last year. Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst, Adobe Digital Index, Adobe, said in a statement, "In an attempt to play every angle possible, retailers poured money into new mobile capabilities by adding Wi-Fi to key stores, expanding mobile app offerings, and optimizing websites for easier transactions from small screens. The results were record online sales driven by tablets and smartphones this year."
Black Friday Online Sales Reach $3 Billion, More Deal Hunters Skipping Crowded Shopping Experience
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