Black Friday's Online Sales Leap 20 Percent Over Last Year

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Online shoppers didn't wait around until Cyber Monday to start their holiday shopping.

According to IBM Corp. research unit Coremetrics, U.S. consumers spent 20 percent more online on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, this year than last, while online sales jumped 39 percent on Thanksgiving Day.

Coremetrics measures sales data from more than 500 online retailers, including half of the top 50. It doesn't reveal its partners or specific dollar figures.

Both Coremetrics and e-commerce payment site PayPal, a united of eBay Inc., said shopping by mobile phone is increasing substantially this year. PayPal said it saw five times more mobile payments worldwide this Thanksgiving, compared with last year.

And Coremetrics said about 17 percent of Black Friday visitors to retail websites came via mobile devices, up from about 5 percent a year ago.

There were sporadic reports of shoppers having trouble with crowded websites. Some visitors to Walmart.com reported problems paying for their merchandise at checkout, according to posts on GottaDeal.com and other websites.

Toys R Us Inc. spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said Friday that the toy retailer's site experienced "some slowness" when it unveiled some online deals at 9 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. She said the company's online sales are up "extensively" from a year ago.

Online sales typically account for about one-tenth of total sales in November, one of the biggest shopping periods of the year, said John Squire, an executive with IBM's e-commerce marketing unit.

That share looks to rise this year.

IBM's Coremetrics predicts online sales will grow about 15 percent this year, compared with growth of a few percentage points for brick-and-mortar stores.

Some retailers save their online deals for the first business day of the week following Thanksgiving, now known as Cyber Monday. And Squire predicted that Cyber Monday's online sales will exceed the total reached on Black Friday by early afternoon.

Squire said its partners' websites hadn't had major glitches Thursday or Friday.

"People keep spending money online, so that's a great indicator that the sites are running," he said.

Comments

[pepper1311]

07:52 PM on 11/27/2011

Online sales are still very low compacted to in store purchases. Up 7% of what?

[Olderandwiser55]

09:47 PM on 11/28/2011

That was only Friday-big sales for cyber monday as well

[rclewis1]

03:15 PM on 11/27/2011

ATTENTION: The Consequence of on-line sales beating out store sales is CLEAR. There will NOW be a BIG push to assure TAXATION of all on-line sales and suppliers to "KEEP THE MARKETPLACE EVEN".....but the TRUTH is it is JUST ABOUT MORE TAXES ON CONSUMERS by the Government.

This type of "NEWS REPORTING" is merely SETTING THE PACE for the coming round of political justification for raising taxes more.

[WarriorLemming]

03:49 PM on 11/27/2011

Well, then maybe we better be pushing harder to have the 1% pay their fair share that way the government won't need to get it from middleclass and poor. ;)

[TTorrens]

02:46 PM on 11/27/2011

Terrible article. Does not pertain to subject and does not address teaser headline. Waste of a minute that I can never get back. HP really should do better than this laughable article.

[rclewis1]

03:16 PM on 11/27/2011

consider the SOURCE. HP is not journalism, it is user provided blogs with some fully partisan and agenda driven articles to drive the sheeple bloggers...mostly to froth up the lefties who get too calm occasionally for their LEADERS...Union bosses and academics.

[bshum3]

02:23 PM on 11/27/2011

I expected from the teaser headline for this to be an article on which retailer did the best . But as usual , it was totally misleading . This article is about the METHOD in which shoppers shopped . Shame on Huff Post .

[ApolloniaBliss]

02:04 PM on 11/27/2011

This article was a waste of my clickn on my computer.

[rclewis1]

03:17 PM on 11/27/2011

Please show me an article on HP that is WORTH a clickn!

[ApolloniaBliss]

09:10 PM on 11/27/2011

Lol. You got me on this comment. :)

[greendayer]

01:48 PM on 11/27/2011

Uh oh. The poor Occupy people aren't going to like this.

[tosc]

01:55 PM on 11/27/2011

there is a quiet movement going amongst the masses, beneath the protests of OWS and all the media coverage. Americans have taken a different view of credit. They have adopted the big business, banking, government view. Use the lender's money to make your purchases and pay a dime on their dollar. When the credit card statement comes itemizing all the "black friday" purchases...the card holders are only paying the absolute minimum payment or in some cases nothing at all. Now the card holder gets to keep the merchandise, but the lender is stuck with paying the retailer. The manipulative power of "bad credit" ratings has lost it's "guilting" momentum! Americans do not feel anxious about being in debt. They are actually using more credit with an quiet intention of never paying it off! Americans have collectively adopted the established banking business rule. Banks will be eating crow in the years to come.....or will have alot of "stuff" to foreclose on...lol

[greendayer]

02:27 PM on 11/27/2011

Actually, the Federal Reserve statistics note that consumer debt peaked in 2008. Your insinuation that debt is increasing is wrong.

Source: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/Current/

You represent that you know what's going on in the mind of consumers, businesses, and shoppers. But, you support . . . none of your speculation. Your's is a nice theory, but it remains fiction without concrete support.

[bshum3]

02:26 PM on 11/27/2011

Not so . There are those among us that have not shopped since last Tuesday . We have avoided the mindless quest for garbage at the big box stores . The phoney sales and come ons just don't impress some of us . When we do shop it will be at the smaller merchants that just might have some American products .

[Ihearyou777]

03:08 PM on 11/27/2011

Agreed. I try to buy what I can from local merchants.

[greendayer]

03:37 PM on 11/27/2011

I agree that supporting local merchants is important. But the numbers destroy the myth that there has been any negative impact on overall sales. The avoidance of big box stores is a personal choice, but clearly, a minority of purchasers are doing so.

[fortressfountain]

01:48 PM on 11/27/2011

Online is where retail wants people to shop. Low labor and low overhead costs.
The only people shopping Black Friday must be on welfare on drugs or drinking. No one in their right mind. The crowds were only there to witness or cause caos.

[sittilouise69]

02:04 PM on 11/27/2011

I shopped black Friday and I'm not on welfare,drugs nor do I drink. I've been doing black Friday since I've had children and that's been 20 years. Some people do it for the fun of it. I didn't shop at any of the Walmart's where the nuts were robbing, shooting and pepper spraying people to get an edge on other shoppers. When you shop online you don't get deal as good as on black Friday. The way the economy is today if you can save money it's a good idea

[rclewis1]

03:21 PM on 11/27/2011

WHEN SHOPPING EXPERIENCES ARE YOUR IDEA OF "FUN" YOU ARE SICK. THERE IS NO MONEY "SAVED" WHEN YOU ARE OUT BUYING PURE CONSUMER JUNK.

[sadiemae1214]

02:38 PM on 11/27/2011

Ya hear that everybody? This "person" seems to believe that ya'll are drunks, addicts or on welfare because you shopped on black friday for bargains. This person must be very rich OR VERY STUPID! I personally know lots of families that DON'T DO ANY OF THAT STUFF and they shopped on black friday. I shopped on black friday and I don't collect welfare, drink OR do drugs!

[notsayingnuffen]

03:04 PM on 11/27/2011

I did Black Friday one year and afterwards had to drink. Lets just say they were some skillful shoppers.

But yeah, FF is full of it. That Peekyou site generates names by those who by online.

If you truly like your privacy on the NET, don't go shopping online.

[rclewis1]

03:23 PM on 11/27/2011

If they are VERY RICH it would because the FAIL to get VICTIMIZED by the phoney baloney consumer SALES and propaganda about "hot stuff you cannot live without for 20% off" and SAVE THEIR OWN MONEY.

Your "DRUG OF CHOICE" is euphonia and denial about SPENDING addiction. Keep it up and you will wind up on Welfare. That is what I CALL stupid!

[belldn3]

01:48 PM on 11/27/2011

So, I'm guessing all or most retailers were winners, the article never did pick someone specificly.

[Highly Opinionated]

01:12 PM on 11/27/2011

My prediction and I hope I am full of it and it will not become true. It will be a cold January and colder February. March will be the month of bankruptcies.

[pmusa1]

12:54 PM on 11/27/2011

Is it hard to believe why dems are in power when you can see so many people doing the same thing as them? (over spending using credit). The repubs are'nt much better. I say throw them all out. It has'nt been we the people in a long time. Many people will not like it but it is time to tighten our belts. We should start by cutting out the fraud in the welfare system. I saw a women and her teenage daughter dressed to the 9s pay for junk at 7-11 with food stamps then buy lottery tickets with a wad of cash and to top it all off the were driving a new jaguar. Where and how can I report this abuse? I for one am sick of these fraudsters. Maybe its just me.

[Sherylynne Klein]

01:14 PM on 11/27/2011

There are millions of examples of what you witnessed at the 7-11. Our governments at work. Rubber stamp approval of every application without verification, investigation or oversight. Those coming here from foreign countries either incapable or barely capable of speaking our language know exactly where to go for EBT cards and WIC checks. We are dumb Americans.

[cimager2]

01:58 PM on 11/27/2011

Heck my heart doctor was telling me he has this russian woman come in. On gov't help, doesn't even have to make a co-pay driving a new Mercedes and living in a house he can't even afford. The help group these aliens have know all the ins and outs of getting gov't relief and guide them. Then when I tried at 64 to get just a little help I was turned away. Oh ya and the thing that kills me is who's working in the welfare offices. The same aliens and in the unemplyment offices english is a second language with the staff. When I was unemployed the non english speaking (only in public of course) were given preference over me. I wanted a class to learn something new that would help and couldn't get always filled up. Even on the day sign up started for a class it was already filled even though I was there early. Umm Wolves guarding the hen house I'd say.

[TOMBOYMATT]

01:55 PM on 11/27/2011

How do you know the Jaguar belonged to her? If the Jag indeed did belong to her, couldn't it have been a gift to her? How do you know she's the owner of the food stamps? Couldn't she simply be shopping for a disabled neighbor, or her grandmother? What if the lady is a caregiver and is doing the shopping for the person she's caring for? Just things to think about before you begin making assumptions.

[sadiemae1214]

02:41 PM on 11/27/2011

Were you born yesterday?

[smithorcolt]

12:46 PM on 11/27/2011

Look on the back of all your items ......Made China pretty rich on Friday

[Ihearyou777]

03:12 PM on 11/27/2011

Yes, the Chinese people I know laugh about stupid Americans.

[BrunoMan]

12:35 PM on 11/27/2011

Yeah, run up your debt Americans, that's just what we need now.

[RobTheBl0gger]

12:30 PM on 11/27/2011

I wonder how many people will be requesting an extension on their credit card payments next month?

[bessielil]

12:13 PM on 11/27/2011

Other than small local businesses, I try to avoid all brick and mortar stores. The malling of America is a Destination spot for some, but depressing as all get out, to me. Some people must really enjoy being out in a crowd and fighting for goods as if it were a Consumer Crusade.

Luckily, for the semi-agoraphobic in me, I can shop with a laptop instead of heading out to shop 'til I drop. The most frustrating part of any shopping is finding anything that isn't made in China.

[Ihearyou777]

03:14 PM on 11/27/2011

My sentiments exactly; local merchants whenever possible and comparison shopping online. The thought of fighting others at the crack of dawn for a bargain scared me half to death. Nothing I want is worth it.

[hgoodguy]

11:43 AM on 11/27/2011

I think that folks this year have 2 mentalities regarding Black Friday.

1. Screw the news--I'm going shopping!
2. When you're drowning what's a few cups of water!

Happy Holidays!