Is In-Store Shopping Dead? Black Friday Shoppers Spent A Record $10.8B Online

Somewhat predictably, the latest reports show that more people than ever did their Black Friday shopping from the comfort of their mobile devices or computers this year. Moreover, shoppers spent more than $10.8 billion online on Friday itself, breaking all previous records by quite a big margin. In contrast, people were only willing to stand in line at brick and mortar retailers if there were deep discounts of 40% or more.

According to data collected by Adobe Analytics, Adobe's cloud-based web, product, and mobile analytics solution, November 29, 2024 saw shoppers spending more on online shopping than ever before. A record $10.8 billion exchanged (digital) hands on Black Friday at a rate of $11.3 million per minute between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m..

Comparatively, consumers spent half of that back in 2017. This shows how accustomed people have become with shopping online, not to mention how much e-commerce websites have improved the experience over the years as well. Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights stated that, "crossing the $10 billion mark is a big e-commerce milestone for Black Friday, for a day that in the past was more anchored towards in-store shopping." Pandya added that online shopping tools, such as AI chatbots and mobile wallets, have really smoothened the process, saying that these tools are like "tailwinds that can prop up online growth for Black Friday moving forward."

Not to be outdone, analysts are predicting that Cyber Monday will rake in $13.2 billion in spending this year. It's expected that shoppers are waiting out for discounts in electronics and apparel, averaging between 30 percent and 23 percent respectively. 

Another report by Sensormatic Solutions has shown that brick and mortar stores saw an 8.2% drop in foot traffic on Black Friday compared to the previous year. It also showed that shoppers were less inclined to shop in-store unless the retailer offered deeper discounts than online counterparts. For example, the apparel retailer Forever 21 had lines for its stores because it offered 50 to 70 percent discounts, while things were colder over at H&M stores with their 30 percent discounts.

The reports also show that the record online sales this year was partly due to higher cost of products, inflation, and less aggressive discounts across all product categories.