Shoppers spent a record-breaking $9.12 billion online on Black Friday amid rising inflation, according to Adobe Analytics data.
The massive spending marked a 2.3 percent rise — especially in electronics.
“Items such as audio equipment, toys and exercise equipment also sold well, with sales of each up more than 200 percent from an average day last month,” The Hill reports.
“Adobe additionally found that consumers turned to flexible ways to make payments amid high inflation and rising prices. The number of buy-now, pay-later orders increased by 78 percent this week compared to last week, and revenue from those orders rose 81 percent in the same period,” the report continued. “The percentage of sales being done on mobile phones also reached a record high, with 48 percent of online sales coming from smartphones, according to Adobe.”
A representative of Adobe told The Hill that there are a lot of signs that shoppers are being more budget-conscious than normal.
“As Black Friday hit record spending online, we’re also seeing more prominent signs of a budget-conscious consumer this year,” said Adobe digital insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya. “Shoppers are embracing the Buy Now Pay Later payment method more this year to be able to buy desired gifts for family and friends.”
PlayStation 5, drones, and Apple’s MacBooks were all popular purchases this year.
“Adobe expects e-commerce activity to remain strong throughout the weekend, with consumers set to spend about $4.5 billion on Saturday and $5 billion on Sunday. Cyber Monday is expected to be the season’s and year’s biggest online shopping day, producing more than $11 billion in sales,” the report said.
