Friday, I talked about Black Friday deals and expectations. But in some ways, you guys proved me wrong. Black Friday online sales broke records. So did mobile sales.
According to Adobe report, Black Friday online sales made over $3 billion. It’s also a first time for mobile sales. They made over a billion dollars this Black Friday. This is a first. Online Black Friday sales grew 21.6% from last year. Also, mobile Black Friday sales grew 33% from last year. The retail winners were Amazon, eBay, Target and Walmart. For instance, Amazon sales of Thanksgiving Day 2016 did better than Cyber Monday 2015 sales. Walmart said over 70% of their sales came from mobile devices. Furthermore, Target said 60% of their sales came from mobile devices. This trend continued all weekend long.
In addition to that, here is something just as ironic. The majority of these mobile sales didn’t even come from smartphones. The majority of mobile sales came from laptop and tablets, while orders processed on desktop computers rose. Apple products processed slightly more sales than Android devices. So this year, orders from Apple averaged $144. While orders from Android devices came at $136 a pop. But the top selling electronics and tech gear included Apple iPads, LG TV’s, Microsoft Xbox’s, and anything VR technology.
Let me call the elephant in the room. I know the real reason online sales are breaking record. Furthermore, I don’t need an Adobe report to tell me either. People don’t want to deal with the turmoil and mayhem that’s called Black Friday. Year after year, the humanity unleashed at retail stores gets worse and worse. This year alone, several people were shot and two were killed during Black Friday altercations. Apparently, it’s spreading overseas. In South Africa, a riot broke out over toilet paper! That’s right; some toilet paper! No wonder why more people choose Small Business Saturday instead. No wonder more people are shopping online. What do you think Cyber Monday will be like?