Online Sales Surge on Black Friday

RAPAPORT… Online spending hit record levels on Black Friday, while
robust sales at brick-and-mortar retailers indicated the shopping bonanza’s
traditional side is not dead yet. 


US e-commerce sales jumped 17% to $5.03 billion on Friday,
according to Adobe Digital Insights, a data analytics provider. Black Friday,
which follows the Thanksgiving holiday, is one of the most important shopping
days of the year as US consumers make use of retailers’ deep discounts to begin
buying for the holiday season.



While the growth of online shopping has resulted in Black
Friday sales shifting from physical retail to the web in recent years, visits
to brick-and-mortar shops declined by less
than 1% for this year’s event, according to ShopperTrak.



“There has been a significant amount of debate surrounding
the shifting importance of brick-and-mortar retail, and the fact that shopper
visits remained intact on Black Friday illustrates that physical retail is
still highly relevant and, when done right, profitable,” said Brian Field, senior
director of advisory services for ShopperTrak.



Seeking Alpha, a news service which tracks stock performances, noted a
strong Black Friday for US retailers including Amazon, Walmart and J.C. Penney.
However, Macy’s suffered from a malfunction of its credit-card payment systems
that resulted in frustration among shoppers, CNBC reported.



The big winner, though, was Amazon, which took about 45% to
50% of Friday’s combined online sales, according to estimates by research group
GBH Insights cited by Business Insider. A jump of more than 2% in the e-commerce
giant’s share price on Friday resulted in founder Jeff Bezos’s total wealth
rising by $2.4 billion to $100.3 billion, Bloomberg reported.


Online retailers are now looking toward Cyber Monday, which was traditionally the busiest day of the year for e-commerce sales.   



Image: Arina P Habich/Shutterstock