Black Friday boomed online

For a shopping holiday known for overnight campouts and irrational customer behavior, in-person retail was kinda mild.

Although in-person visits increased 2.9% from last year, analysts told Retail Dive that the long queues of yore had vanished, while Business Insider shared photos of mostly empty Walmart stores.

Ecommerce, however…

… was big. Customers spent a record $9.1B+ online, per CNBC, citing estimates from Adobe Analytics.

Some other fun stats:

• Electronics, toys, and fitness equipment sales were all up 200%+ compared to an average October day
• 48% of online sales were done by phone, up 4% from 2021
• BNPL payments were up 78% from the previous week
• Adobe expects $11.2B in sales on Cyber Monday, a 5.1% YoY increase

Meanwhile, Shopify announced its best Black Friday ever, with global sales of $3.3B+, up 17% YoY.

Among large retailers, Walmart was the top dog online, per data from Captify, which tracks web searches.

Amazon, which led last year, dropped to fourth behind Target and Kohl’s.

Why the increase?

Inflation, for one. Shoppers may have dropped more on less this year.

But the strength of online sales likely relied on convenience and a shift in consumer habits:

• Consumers now favor online shopping, especially millennials and Gen Xers
• Salesforce reported BOPIS (buy-online-pickup-in-store) sales, popular during the pandemic, were up 20% compared to other days
• Shoppers still want deals, but also flexible payment options, like BNPL, amid economic uncertainty

Fun fact: Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for plumbers. Why? Clogged sinks and garbage disposals due to Thanksgiving cooking.