Lego sets, iPads drive record online sales on Black Friday

The NRF had earlier projected that the retail industry would see a 3.6 percent increase in sales this holiday season over a year ago.

“After Thanksgiving, we’re trying to save some money before the holidays”.

While more bargain hunters opened their wallets for Black Friday weekend this year, on average they spent a little less than in 2015.

By Thanksgiving evening, online spending by USA shoppers reached $1.13 billion for the day, according to Adobe Digital Index, surging nearly 14 percent from a year ago.

“Family tradition. We’ve been doing this since she was a teenager and now she’s got teenagers”, said Valerie Wilmott, who get up early with her daughter and grandchildren to score some deals.

It’s been a busy day for Casper residents hitting stores for Black Friday sales with bellies full of Thanksgiving food. The estimate marks a 33 percent increase over last year’s mobile sales total for the day. That’s compared to past year, when shoppers were more evenly split, with 103 million browsing online and 102 million in stores. “We still expect Cyber Monday to surpass Black Friday and become the largest online sales day in history with $3.36 Billion”. It was a great boost from the 3.4 percent drop in seven years from the Great Recession of 2009.

Traditionally, Black Friday, has started the holiday shopping season in the USA with retailers offering steep discounts and turning a profit.

Black Friday is like the Super Bowl of shopping, but not everyone is excited about the idea of leaving their house to score a good deal.

“Mostly for clothing”, she said outside the Bon-Ton store.

KATELYN HIBBARD/Sun-Gazette A TJ Maxx employee talks jewelry and sales with a customer during Black Friday.

He added that online sales grew by double digits, without giving further details.

Target, which put its Black Friday deals online Wednesday, said it was selling 3,200 televisions a minute at one point.

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE), which analyzed data from 21-B visits to retail websites, is predicting online spending Thanksgiving Day would reach $2-B, up 16-B from a year ago. Retailers that have invested in mobile, email and social have seen 30 percent more sales on average and 25 percent higher average order values.

To the surprise of no one, deals and discounts drove shoppers. Even though the store cut the time it was open, the business sold more product in the shorter window this year, said Ludemann, who could not disclose specific store information. Adobe Digital Insights measures 80 percent of online transactions from the top 100 USA retailers.