Greg Sterling says, “According to Adobe, Thanksgiving and Black Friday online retail sales exceed $5 billion. More noteworthy in some ways is that mobile devices contributed a record $1.2 billion to that total on Black Friday alone.

There was mixed data on in-store traffic and sales, with some sources reporting an initial decline vs. last year and others reporting small in-store gains. However, on a percentage basis, online shopping growth far outpaced store traffic.

While retail analysts and the media focus on the distinctions between online and offline shopping and the particulars and trends associated with specific shopping days — Thanksgiving vs. Black Friday vs. the horribly named Cyber Monday — consumers just focus on bargains and convenience. Individual shopping days have given way to “Cyberweek” deals, some of which started before Thanksgiving and continue this week. Many “Cyber Monday” promotions began yesterday.

Consumers are becoming much more agnostic about where they buy. Yet a huge percentage of online shopping is generated from the sites and apps of traditional retailers. This is one of the underreported stories of e-commerce today. As one example, Macy’s website was overloaded with traffic and unavailable multiple times on Black Friday”.

E-commerce tops $5 billion over weekend, mobile beats $1 billion on Black Friday

Marketing Land

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