Early data points to mixed Black Friday online as inflation hits shoppers

People navigate through Yorkdale Mall in search of Black Friday sales in Toronto on November 26, 2021. When Shopify Inc.'s Harley Finkelstein surveys November's retail landscape, he finds it hard to see where Black Friday stops and Cyber Monday begins. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin

OTTAWA -

Early data for Black Friday suggest a mixed bag for online sales as inflation hits shoppers ahead of the holiday season.

Shopify Inc. said sales by merchants on its system set a new record for Black Friday as they rose 17 per cent compared with a year ago.

The e-commerce company said merchant sales from the start of Black Friday in New Zealand through to the end of the period in California totalled US$3.36 billion, with sales of US$3.5 million per minute at the peak.

However, Salesforce said online sales in Canada were down year over year for Black Friday, though they increased globally by three per cent. Traffic from customers on computers was down 10 per cent, while traffic from mobile devices was down one per cent

Discounts were also steeper, up 10 per cent from last year, Salesforce said.

Shopify said top product categories were apparel and accessories, followed by health and beauty, and home and garden.

Shopify provides e-commerce tools for businesses in more than 175 countries. Top selling countries and cities where shoppers made purchases from were the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2022.