Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify boasts major jump in Black Friday sales

Shopify's record-setting weekend Ottawa company's one million merchants book $5 Billion in business in outstanding Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales.

OTTAWA — Ottawa-based Shopify says sales on its platform jumped significantly on Black Friday 2020 compared to the year before.

The e-commerce company says it saw $2.4 billion USD worth of sales globally on Nov. 27, 2020—a 75 per cent increase over 2019 figures, the company says.

The United States was the top-selling country in the world, followed by the U.K. and Canada.

Shopify president Harley Finkelstein said on Twitter Saturday morning this weekend could break records.

Lunch hour was top selling time

According to figures provided by the company, a lot of people were shopping online over lunch.

Both globally and in Canada, the peak sales hour was 12 p.m. Eastern. Mobile orders accounted for 67 per cent of all sales around the world (61 per cent in Canada). Shoppers were most interested in clothing and accessories, followed by health and beauty products. The third most popular product in Canada was electronics. Home & garden products rounded out the top three globally.

Online shopping surged across Canada on Friday, as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic keeps people indoors and away from the usually crowded shopping malls and stores that mark a typical year. A lockdown is in place in Toronto, which was Shopify's top city for sales, deliveries and curbside pickups in Canada.

Carbon offsets on Black Friday

Shopify also said it was offsetting carbon emissions from the delivery of every order placed on its platform on Black Friday.

According to the company, more than 20,000 tonnes of carbon emissions were offset through the program.