Online sales increase in the US during Black Friday

Data from Adobe Digital Insights found that shoppers in the States spent $5.03bn online on Black Friday ( 24 November), an increase of 16.9% compared to the shopping day in 2016.

Purchases made via mobile devices represented 36.9% of all sales – equating to almost $2bn – and over half ( 54.3%) of site visits, according to the data.

According to the company, it analyses 80% of online transactions for the 100 biggest US web retailers for the study. 

Shopping on the British high street, meanwhile, was lower than on Black Friday last year, according to data from Springboard. High street footfall was down by 4.2%.

With discounts introduced earlier in the week and extending beyond the weekend, Springboard found that the volume of online transactions in the week before the event was up 11.3%.

A study from Optimove analysing 7m e-commerce transactions also found that the average cost of an order grew by 9% compared to last year’s figures. The analysis found that the average discount on orders decreased by 12% from 2016.

Pini Yakuel, founder and chief executive of Optimove, said: “As the numbers come in after Black Friday, it is clear that more shoppers are opting to buy online rather than in-store, which is why it is more important than ever that retailers understand the behaviours and motivations of their online customers."