Online sales soared in the USA and the UK over the weekend as consumers snapped up millions of online bargains on Black Friday (November 27) ahead of today’s Cyber Monday (November 30), generating a surge of additional parcels for delivery.
In the USA, more than 150 million consumers – which is nearly half the country’s entire population – shopped either in stores or online over the long holiday weekend starting on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday November 26), according to a survey commissioned by the National Retail Association (NRF). Average spending per person from November 26 to 28 was nearly $300, while 25-34 year-olds spent $425 on average.
More people shopped online (103 million) than in stores (102 million), while many combined both shopping forms. Among digital bargain hunters, the NRF survey found 41 million people (39.8%) said they shopped online on Thanksgiving Day and 75.3 million (73.1%) shopped online on Black Friday. Many more – 121 million – were planning to shop online on Cyber Monday, although this is slightly lower than last year’s 127 million.
According to digital research and analytics company comScore, US online shopping grew by 9% to $1.1 billion on Thanksgiving Day and increased by 10% to $1.7 billion on Black Friday. It is predicting that Cyber Monday sales could top $3 billion this year.
Overall US online sales between November 1 and 27 increased by 5% to $23.45 billion, according to comScore. Ahead of Thanksgiving Day, the company predicted that online retail spending in November and December could increase 14% to more than $70 billion in total, including a 47% surge in mobile commerce. This would be slightly lower than last year’s 15% growth.
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said: “It is clear that the age-old holiday tradition of heading out to stores with family and friends is now equally matched in the new tradition of looking online for holiday savings opportunities.”
ComScore chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni commented: “While the holiday season opened a little softer than anticipated, Thanksgiving and Black Friday both posted strong online spending totals that surpassed $1 billion on desktop computers and grew at the rate we had expected. This is also the second straight year that Thanksgiving has established itself as one of the more important online buying days, while Black Friday continues to gain in importance online with each passing year.”
In the UK, Black Friday online sales soared by a massive 36% to reach £1.1 billion, according to estimates by e-commerce association IMRG and researchers Experian, which predict that Cyber Monday sales could surge by 31% to £943 million. Market leader Amazon UK announced that it sold 7.4 million items on this year’s Black Friday compared to 5.5 million last year, which was a 34.5% increase in volumes.
James Miller, senior retail consultant at Experian Marketing Services, said: “Black Friday has once again proven to be a major draw for British consumers, with a record breaking £1.1 billion estimated to have been spent in the 24 hour period. This is a 36% year-on-year increase in spend which clearly shows that this date is likely to continue to be a permanent fixture in the online retail calendar in the UK, despite the lower than expected footfall in bricks and mortar stores.
“Consumers now see online shopping as a leisure activity, with pre-Christmas discount retail events such as Black Friday driven by this. Retailers and delivery networks should prepare for increasing interest in the coming weeks too, with “Cyber Monday” – traditionally when consumers look for more online shopping deals – occurring today with an expected £943 million in sales likely to occur, up 31% year-on-year.”
Andy Mulcahy, editor, IMRG, added: "Black Friday appeared to be in a state of transition this year, as many retailers extended their campaigns to run over a week or even longer to ease the pressure on their operations. Nevertheless, it seems there is still a perception that the day itself is the time to get the best deals as it drew record volumes to retail sites – most likely boosted by shoppers who stayed away from the high street in order to avoid a repeat of the scenes from last year.”
