Black Friday sales: Thanksgiving sales generated $33.6 billion in online sales globally: Salesforce

This holiday season, online shopping has surged globally and in India, with Black Friday sales experiencing significant growth. According to Salesforce, a software-as-a-service major tracking e-commerce activity in real-time, online shopping has seen a strong uptick in demand.

As per Salesforce, the US holiday season which kicks off with Thanksgiving day generated $33.6 billion in sales online globally, increasing 6% on year. The US market alone was up 8% to $8.1 billion while Europe grew 10%.

Adobe Analytics said US consumers had spent $7.9 billion online as of Friday afternoon, an increase of 8.2% over last year, with a projected final tally between $10.7 and $11 billion — an ecommerce record for Black Friday.

The “Black Friday” discounts day started as a single day when shoppers poured — sometimes stampeded — into malls in search of incredible deals. It is observed the day after celebrating Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. It is now accompanied by “Small Business Saturday” and “Cyber Monday”.

Inflation has hit consumption in the US this festive season, as per these analysts. Holiday shoppers in 2024 are “even more preoccupied and very focused around value and discounts,” said Vivek Pandya, analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.

Before the holiday weekend, as retailers issued forecasts for the coming months, they painted a picture of shoppers who have grown choosy, holding off on large purchases after years of faster-than-usual price increases and with interest rates still high.

According to real-time data from Shopify, the top product categories by volume included items such as tshirts, skin care and makeup products, while purchases of electronics were more muted in the US.India edition

While it originated in the US, the holiday shopping event around Thanksgiving is now observed across the globe. Amazon India hosted the country’s first Black Friday sale this year, which kicked off on November 29. The India edition of the sale featured deals on premium brands in categories such as electronics, appliances, fashion, and beauty. Apple, Samsung, Sony and others are participating in the event.

Other retailers and brands are also joining the bandwagon. Flipkart, Reliance Digital and Croma, and individual brands are offering discounts of up to 50% at physical stores and on ecommerce platforms. Companies are using Black Friday to clear Diwali stock.

ET reported that ecommerce platforms recorded total sales of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore (about $11.9 billion) in India’s month-long season, observed in the run-up to Diwali, expanding by well over a fifth from the previous year.

More than half the demand came in the first week itself, with goods worth Rs 55,000 crore ($6.5 billion) sold during Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, which began on September 26.