Black Friday boasts US$648 million in US online holiday spending

For the holiday season-to-date, US$11.64 billion (about R82 billion) has been spent online, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year. Black Friday (November 26) saw US$648 million (about in R4.53 billion) online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2010 and representing a 9% increase versus Black Friday 2009. Thanksgiving Day (November 26), traditionally a lighter day for online holiday spending, achieved a strong 28% increase to US$407 million (about R2.85 billion).

*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru November 27, 2009)

"Although Black Friday is known for the flurry of activity occurring in brick-and-mortar retail stores, online shopping is increasingly becoming the refuge of those preferring to avoid the crowds and long lines," said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. "The US$648 million in online spending this Black Friday represents the heaviest online spending day of the season-to-date and a solid increase over last year's Black Friday. Interestingly, we are also seeing consumers beginning to buy online in a more meaningful way on Thanksgiving Day, which has historically seen low buying activity."

Black Friday bargains boost web browsing behaviour

As the online channel becomes increasingly influential in driving offline shopping behaviour, consumers are turning to Black Friday sites on the web to conduct research in advance of the day's events. comScore analysed eight Black Friday deal sites for the five days ending Black Friday (Nov. 22-26) compared to the corresponding days last year, finding that Black-Friday.net led the pack with 3.1 million unique visitors, up 42% versus last year. BlackFriday.info followed with 2.7 million visitors, while Black-Friday2010.com (up 478% to 1.5 million visitors) showed the greatest growth.

*Site was known as BlackFriday2009.com in 2009

Some other notable findings about Black Friday deal-seeking include:

• The number of visitors to coupon sites on Black Friday grew 4% versus year ago to 3.6 million visitors, while the total number of visits to the category increased 16% to 7.4 million.
  
• BlackFriday.info was the most visited coupon site on Black Friday with 630 000 unique visitors, followed by CouponCabin.com (543 000), RetailMeNot.com (332 000 visitors) and Groupon.com (332 000).
  
• ShopLocal.com ranked as the most visited comparison shopping site on Black Friday with 2.1 million visitors, up 45% versus year ago.

Amazon wins Black Friday online

Four retail properties surpassed four million US unique visitors on Black Friday, with mixed results in comparison to last year. Amazon Sites was the most visited retail property on Black Friday, growing 25% from the corresponding shopping day a year ago, followed by Walmart, which saw a marginal decline of 1%. Target Corporation (up 9%) and Best Buy Sites (up 1%) rounded out the top four.

"Amazon, with a sizeable increase in traffic on Black Friday, continues to experience remarkable success during the holiday season," added Fulgoni. "We will be watching closely to see if the leading online retailer is able to sustain this momentum through Cyber Monday and into the heart of the online shopping season."