Digital Black Friday sales top projections despite inflation, report says

Deal-hunting Americans shrugged off sky-high inflation on Black Friday, spending in record-breaking numbers online even as brick-and-mortar stores enjoyed the fading of COVID concerns.

Customers spent $14.42 billion between Thanksgiving and Black Friday — up from a combined $14.04 billion initially projected, according to Adobe Analytics.

Online holiday season shopping was projected to rack up $210 billion, up from last year’s $205 billion, which was itself a marked increase from 2020′s $188 billion, Adobe Analytics reported.

Still, the rise did not keep up with an annual inflation rate that was near 8% in October.

Breaking News

As it happens

Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts.

Of the $159 billion spent between Oct. 1 and Friday, more than 55% was spent on desktop and other devices, compared to the 45% spent on mobile purchases, according to Adobe.

Digital sales for electronics, toys and clothing have all declined from the start of October to Black Friday, with all three increasing and then dipping by early October, Adobe reported.

Toys suffered the sharpest decline over the past nearly two months.

Nintendo Switch, Roblox, Paw Patrol, video game “God of War Ragnarök” and Instapots were among this Thanksgiving’s most popular products, with Xbox Series X, Bluey, MacBooks and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II” topping sales for Black Friday.