This will likely end up the biggest Black Friday ever online.
Overall online sales for the day after Thanksgiving are expected to top $9 billion, according to Adobe, which tracks sales on retailers’ websites. That would be a record.
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Through 6 p.m. ET, shoppers spent $7.28 billion at websites. That number could balloon to as much as $9.2 billion before the day is done, Adobe said.
The record-breaking spending comes on the heels of a strong day of Thanksgiving shopping, in which consumers shelled out an all-time high $5.29 billion online, up 2.9% year-over-year. Typically, shoppers spend about $2 billion to $3 billion online in a day, according to Adobe.
The company said shoppers were picking up AppleFunko
Adobe noted that mobile shopping also hit a record high this year, with sales from smartphones accounting for 55% of online sales on Thanksgiving Day. These sales are expected to account for 53% of total Black Friday sales, the company predicts.
Additionally, strong discounts enticed inflation-weary consumers to put more items in their carts. The average order volume was up 12% during the season. Toys, in particular, drove significant demand, with deals as high as 33% off.
For retailers, these numbers may be a promising indicator about the weeks ahead. Early holiday forecasts have been muted. Target, Macy’s, Nordstrom and other companies reported a lull in sales in late October and early November. Consumer sentiment has weakened in the past month as inflation hovers near four-decade highs.
That has ratcheted up the pressure for retailers on Black Friday weekend — a time that’s often associated with the biggest deals of the holiday shopping season.
Adobe expects Cyber Week, the five days from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, will generate around $34.8 billion in online spending, up nearly 3% compared to 2021. Cyber Monday is expected to be the biggest online shopping day, with sales slated to top $11.2 billion, the company forecast.
— CNBC’s Melissa Repko contributed to this report.
