"Blowout": Black Friday Spending Hits Record High As Shoppers Line Up Despite Record Freeze -

“Blowout”: Black Friday Spending Hits Record High As Shoppers Line Up Despite Record Freeze

Nov 23, 2018Jeremy ParkinsonFinance0

Just as Chinese shoppers put up record numbers earlier this month during Alibaba’s ‘Singles Day’ sale extravaganza (beating the previous year’s record in dollar terms despite a 10% slump in the yuan), US consumers are expected to spend record sums on Black Friday – and throughout the holiday shopping season – as after several years of lackluster holiday shopping figures.

As of 7 am Friday morning, Black Friday online sales had already surpassed the $645 million mark as millions of Americans had yet to regain consciousness after falling asleep Thursday night in a turkey-and-stuffing induced haze.

As of 5 pm ET,Thanksgiving Day online sales had surpassed $1.75 billion, with the figure expected to hit a record $3.7 billion, up by 29% from last year, according to Adobe Systems.

All told, Black Friday sales are expected to hit $24 billion (excluding cars, gas and restaurants), with that total climbing to about $60 billion through Sunday, according to data from consultancy Customer Growth Partners cited by Reuters.

Scenes of chaos as overeager shoppers rush to snap up the best deals have become a hallmark of Black Friday, and this year, even with its record low temperatures, was no exception.

#blackfriday yoh😆 pic.twitter.com/cHllr0PuPU

— Gun City Beats (@GunCity_Beats) November 23, 2018

As record-low temperatures made life difficult for people across the North East, shoppers still turned out at 5 pm Thanksgiving eve to get a jump on their holiday shopping in what has become the fastest-growing sales day of the holiday season. Consumer tech sales helped fuel the buying frenzy (even as sales of smartphones have peaked more broadly), with Adobe Systems tabulating a nearly 30% rise in smartphone purchases on Thanksgiving Day, compared with last year.

Eager to boost their sales figures, e-commerce giants offered shipping incentives to draw more shoppers online. Amazon is offering free two-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of items through Dec. 22, while Walmart Inc. is offering free two-day shipping on orders worth a minimum of $35.