Black Friday Sales Break Record; Mobile Sees Significant Increase In Adoption

There was a lot of hype surrounding Black Friday, with predictions that the day would break a number of records set in previous years. These predictions were not unfounded and it has recently been revealed that online sales on November 28th reached $2.4 billion, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK reports.

Black Friday – as well as Thanksgiving Day – witnessed double-digit growth in online sales compared to 2013, of 24% and 25% respectively. Sales on Thanksgiving Day reached $1.33 billion. Between November 1st and November 28th, $32 billion was spent – an increase of 14% compared to the same period last year.

Mobile devices increased their share of online sales dramatically, with the devices accounting for 27% of sales on Black Friday – three percentage points higher than in 2013. Social media also played an increasingly significant role, helping to promote Black Friday deals. Facebook took the lead in terms of the amount of sales generated from the site, with the average user spending $114.45 from the site. Pinterest came second, securing $93.20 for brands, and Twitter came third at $90.74.

Social media also provided valuable insights into the type of products or services users were keen to purchase; 4K televisions saw the biggest month-on-month increase in interest, whilst tech companies Samsung and Sony both saw mentions on social media increase by an impressive 350%.

Tamara Gaffney, principal research analyst at Adobe Digital Index, noted in regards to the increased adoption of mobile devices for completing a purchase that “consumer use of larger screen smartphones helped drive significant increases in mobile online sales – enough to set records two days in a row.”