Online Shopping Explodes to New High as In-Store Black Friday Traffic ‘Thin’ Under Covid Conditions

Retail sales for Black Friday reflected the worldwide trend in everything from how people eat and work to how they go to school or buy toilet paper: a massive shift to online.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that Black Friday saw a new record for online sales on the annual shopping bonanza, reaching an approximate $9 billion, a 22% increase over the previous record set in 2019. It is still a lower watermark than 2019’s Cyber Monday, which set and holds the record for single largest shopping day in U.S. history. At least, for now. Cyber Monday 2020 could still top that.

Customers wear face masks while waiting in line to shop inside a Best Buy Co. retail store on Black Friday in Hawthorne, California, November 27, 2020. ( Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

TechCrunch notes the shifting medium, too. Of the record-setting $9 billion, a whopping $3.6 billion was via smartphone.

Adobe Analytics, which is used for most reporting on Black Friday sales, also listed the top 5 selling products for Black Friday. Although the shopping has gone high tech by moving online, and even higher tech by shifting from desktops and laptops to smartphones and devices, the top 5 still show what you might expect: It’s all about the kids.

Hot Wheels, Super Mario, Animal Crossing, and Apple products. Okay okay, it was mostly about the kids.

Meanwhile, in-person sales were predictably well down from previous numbers. Forbes reports that brick and mortar stores “experienced a drop in foot traffic of 48%” this Black Friday. That is tempered somewhat by increased purchasing, so sales were only down 30% in store.

Watch the clip above, via the Associated Press.