- Black Friday Online Spending Surpassed $1 Billion in Desktop Spending Alone
- Black Friday Jumps 26% to $1.5 Billion Pushing Season-to-Date Growth Rate to 15%
For the holiday season-to-date, $22.7 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. This impressive figure was revealed today by comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world. The estimate is based on data covering only the U.S. desktop retail e-commerce spending for the first 28 days of the November–December 2014 holiday season.
In the U.S., Thanksgiving Day saw a significant 32 percent gain to $1.01 billion in spending to surpass the billion dollar threshold for the first time in its history and marking the first day of the 2014 season to reach that level. Black Friday (November 28) followed with an even stronger spending day with $1.51 billion in desktop online sales, up 26-percent from Black Friday 2013.
| 2014 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2013 Non-Travel (Retail) E-Commerce Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. – Home & Work Desktop Computers | |||
| Millions ($) | |||
| 2013 | 2014 | Percent Change | |
| Nov. 1-28, 2014 | $19,795 | $22,696 | 15% |
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 27, 2014) | $766 | $1,009 | 32% |
| Black Friday (Nov. 28, 2014) | $1,198 | $1,505 | 26% |
“Thanksgiving and Black Friday both saw exceptionally strong online growth rates as each day surpassed $1 billion in desktop spending,” said comScore chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni. “The strength we saw in the early online buying rush likely reflects a few things, including overall health in consumer spending, responsiveness to the strong deals being offered online, and perhaps some shoppers opting to stay home on Thanksgiving rather than head out to the stores that opened their doors early. Regardless of the particular drivers, it’s clear that the online holiday rush is getting off to a very good start and is reason for optimism as we get into the heart of the buying season.”
An earlier report by IBM estimated that Black Friday online sales were up 9.5 percent year-over-year with mobile devices accounting for one-in-four of all online purchases.
Altogether, consumer spending in the U.S. fell to $50.9 billion over the past four days, down from $57.4 billion in 2013, the National Retail Federation said in a statement. It was the second year in a row that sales declined during the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday weekend, which had long been famous for long lines and frenzied crowds.
