The economy received a boost during Black Friday, with this year’s online spending breaking records despite inflation.
Inflation has been rising at near record rates, prompting concerns of an impending recession. Despite the economic uncertainty, online sales reached a new record during this Black Friday, coming in at $9.12 billion, according to data from Adobe Analytics, via GeekWire. This was a 2.3% increase over the previous year.
Electronic sales were especially robust, growing a whopping 221%. Similarly exercise equipment sales grew 218%, audio equipment sales were up 230%, smart home item sales grew 271%, and toys 285%. Meanwhile, mobile transactions reached a record 48% of online sales, up from 44% last year.
Interestingly, Buy Now Pay Later orders increased 78% over the previous week. This is likely a result of the economic uncertainty, not to mention the layoffs many have experienced.
Black Friday is likely not the end of the good news, with Adobe predicting Cyber Monday online sales will grow 5.1% over the previous year, to come in at $11.2 billion.