Black Friday online sales have shattered previous records, with Adobe reporting that US consumers spent a staggering $10.8 billion on the day, a 10.2% increase from last year. Meanwhile, Salesforce estimates that global sales reached an unprecedented $74.4 billion, a 5% year-over-year increase. These figures mark a significant milestone in e-commerce growth, with the holiday season expected to be a crucial period for retailers worldwide.

The numbers are a testament to the growing comfort of consumers with online shopping, particularly on mobile devices. According to Adobe, 55% of all online spend was made on mobile devices, amounting to $5.9 billion, up 12.1% year-on-year. This trend is likely to continue, with Adobe's lead analyst, Vivek Pandya, noting 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."

The sales figures are closely watched, as this week marks the start of the holiday sales season, the most important period for retailers globally. At its peak, between 10am and 2pm Eastern, Black Friday holiday sales bargains were being snapped up at a rate of $11.3 million spent each minute. To put this into perspective, the US Census Bureau reported that e-commerce spend in the most recent quarter (Q3) was just over $300 billion, up between 6% and 8% on the same period a year ago.

Discounts continue to drive sales, with the highest mark-downs seen in categories that people are likely buying as early holiday presents. Toys were discounted by as much as 27.8%, electronics by 27.4%, and TVs by 24.2%. Chatbots also played a significant role, with Adobe reporting that traffic to retail sites from GenAI chatbots was up by 1,800% last year. In a survey of 5,000 consumers in the US, 20% said they were using chatbots to find deals and other shopping recommendations.

The methodologies used by Adobe and Salesforce differ, with Adobe's data based on 1 trillion visits tracked to US retail sites, covering some 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories in all. Salesforce, on the other hand, said its 2024 figures are based on shopping data from 1.5 billion consumers captured across its customers and other data feeds in its Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud.

The record-breaking sales figures are a promising start to the holiday season, and retailers will be keenly watching the trends that emerge in the coming weeks. As the e-commerce landscape continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how retailers leverage chatbots, mobile shopping, and other technologies to drive sales and stay ahead of the competition.

We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.