Shoppers continue indulging in Black Friday sales, but mostly online

Despite retailers offering holiday discounts earlier than usual this year, US consumers did more shopping on Black Friday than the days leading up to it. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Despite retailers offering holiday discounts earlier than usual this year, U.S. consumers did more shopping on Black Friday than the days leading up to it.

In-store and online retail sales saw a 3.4 per cent increase year-over-year on Black Friday, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.

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“Shoppers are making the most of seasonal deals and enjoying a balance of experiences spending and gifts for all loved ones,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard, in a news release. “They’re more strategic in their shopping though, prioritizing promotions that they believe hold the greatest value — opening their wallets, but with more intentional distribution.”

More people turned to online shops on Friday, while in-store sales grew less than one per cent compared to last year. According to Mastercard, online sales were up 14.6 per cent from last year. Despite warm weather lasting longer into the fall, apparel was popular with online shoppers.

Mastercard said there was an increase in grocery spending during the two weeks leading up to Black Friday and people were spending big at restaurants the day after Thanksgiving.

According to Adobe Analytics, online shoppers spent US$10.8 billion on Friday compared to US$9.8 billion in 2023. Shoppers set a record this week by spending US$6.1 billion on Thanksgiving Day.

Adobe expects Cyber Monday to be the year’s biggest shopping day, though. It estimated shoppers will spend a record US$13.2 billion, up 6.1 per cent year-over-year.

Shopify, an e-commerce site, reported that it set a new record for its Black Friday sales, which reached US$5 billion globally. The average cart price for US shoppers was about $157, with many looking for products like t-shirts, skincare and vitamins.

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The National Retail Federation estimated in October that Americans would spend US$902 per person on gifts, food, decorations and other items during the holiday season — US$25 per person more than last year and US$16 more than the record set in 2019 — but economists didn’t expect this week to be anything out of the ordinary.

The NRF estimated that shoppers would spend US$261 on food, candy and decorations and other holiday items.

Mastercard said jewelry, electronics and apparel were the top purchases on Black Friday, with consumers taking advantage of big discounts.

But great deals don’t always mean high quality. Flora Bagenal, producer of Netflix’s “Buy Now!” documentary, told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday that these electronics, toys and clothes are mass-produced and eventually thrown out by consumers. It creates a cycle of overconsumption that hurts the environment.

“That’s where consumers have a bit more power to make some more choices around the things that we buy,” she said. “Just not falling for stuff that is probably not gonna last very long.”