Digital Black Friday Sales Top Forecasts Despite Inflation, Report Says

By Jami Ganz, New York Daily News (TNS)

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-19 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.

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 Ragnarok” 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.

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