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- Shoppers are on pace to break Black Friday online spending records and use AI more than ever as sales hit $8.6 billion (businessinsider.com)
Black Friday Shatters Records, Fueled by AI and Mobile Shopping Frenzy
American shoppers have unleashed a spending spree this Black Friday, propelling online sales to unprecedented levels. By early evening, consumers had already shelled out a staggering $8.6 billion, with projections indicating the final tally could smash initial forecasts, according to data from Adobe Analytics.
This impressive figure represents a 9.4% leap in online spending compared to last year, comfortably outperforming Adobe’s earlier prediction of 8.3% growth for the day. Bolstered by this robust performance, Adobe now anticipates Black Friday’s total online spending to land between $11.7 billion and $11.9 billion, a new single-day record for online retail.
A deeper dive into the data, which analyzed over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites and 100 million products across 18 categories, reveals key trends driving this surge: a significant uptick in the use of AI tools and the growing popularity of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options.
“Nearly half of consumers surveyed believe the best deals this season will come on Black Friday, pushing many to hit buy on products before Cyber Monday,” stated Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. “Given the strong spending so far today, we anticipate the final tally for online shopping on Black Friday will exceed our initial forecast.”
This record-breaking Black Friday sets the stage for what Adobe expects to be a powerhouse Cyber Week, the five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. This period is projected to account for a significant 17.2% of the entire holiday season’s spending, totaling $43.7 billion-a 6.3% increase from last year.
Black Friday’s Hottest Hauls
Shoppers were quick to snag deals on a diverse range of products. Top sellers included televisions, the newly released Nintendo Switch 2, Apple AirPods 4, and the Oura Ring 4. Kitchen essentials like KitchenAid stand mixers and storage containers also flew off virtual shelves, alongside major appliances such as washers and dryers, bicycles, and basketball hoops.
Adobe’s survey indicated that 50% of respondents planned to shop for apparel and accessories online, followed by toys at 40%, and computers and electronics at 36%.
The spending frenzy was further ignited by deeper-than-anticipated discounts. Electronics led the pack with markdowns up to 29% off, followed by toys at 28%, apparel at 25%, and televisions at 24%. Computers, appliances, furniture, and sporting goods also saw substantial price cuts, ranging from 19% to 23% off.
AI and Mobile Drive the Shopping Revolution
A significant shift in consumer behavior is the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence to navigate the online shopping landscape. AI-driven traffic to retail sites-measured by shoppers clicking on links from AI assistants-is projected to skyrocket by 600% compared to last year.
Almost half of the respondents in Adobe’s survey reported using or planning to use AI for online shopping this season, primarily to discover deals, research products, and receive recommendations. This trend comes as companies rapidly integrate AI into the holiday shopping experience, exemplified by OpenAI’s recent introduction of a shopping research feature in ChatGPT.
Mobile shopping continued its reign, accounting for a dominant 58.6% of online sales and driving $5.1 billion in spending, an 11.3% year-over-year increase. This marks a higher mobile share than last year’s Black Friday, when phones and tablets made up 55% of purchases.
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services also saw heightened activity, with this payment option expected to facilitate $761.8 million in Black Friday spending, an 11% increase from the previous year. The vast majority of these installment purchases-82.4%-occurred on mobile devices. Consumers primarily utilized BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture.