Black Friday 2016 is the first day in retail history to earn more than $1 billion in mobile sales at $1.2 billion, which is a 33 percent increase compared to last year.
This year's version of the shopping holiday also set a new record in being the first one to surpass the $3 billion mark in total online sales, reaching $3.34 billion in revenue for growth of 21.6 percent.
Record-Breaking Black Friday 2016
The data was reported by Adobe, which collected online shopping data for both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. In total for the two days, online spending was $5.27 billion, which is a 17.7 percent increase compared to the online revenue from the same two days of last year.
The report was based on aggregated and anonymous data acquired from 22.6 billion visits to retail websites. Adobe claimed that it measured 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 retailers in the United States, which is more than any other data or technology company, then used its Adobe Sensei-powered predictive model to forecast the Thanksgiving and Black Friday online sales and trends.
Visits to retail websites on Black Friday were mostly made on mobile devices at 55 percent, with 45 percent from smartphones and 10 percent from tablets. For sales on retail websites, meanwhile, transactions on mobile devices accounted for 36 percent of the transactions, with 25 percent on smartphones and 11 percent on tablets.
Adobe also reported that retail companies that invested in mobile, social and email capabilities saw 30 percent more in average sales and 25 percent more in average order values.
Best-Selling Products For Black Friday 2016
According to Adobe's online sales data, the best selling electronic products on Black Friday were Apple's iPad tablets, Samsung's 4K TVs, Apple's MacBook Air laptop, LG's TVs and Microsoft's Xbox One. For toys, Lego Creator Sets led the pack, followed by Razor electric scooters, Nerf guns, DJI Phantom drones and Barbie Dreamhouses.
For the entire season of Nov. 1 to Nov. 24, the best-selling video game console, however, has been the PlayStation 4, followed by the Xbox One. For video games, the top seller is Pokémon Sun and Moon, followed by Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
What This Means For Customers And Retailers
The surge in online sales has taken its toll on brick-and-mortar stores, with in-store customers dropping by a combined 1 percent over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, according to retail data provider ShopperTrak.
While the figure might seem low, it continues the trend from last year of more shoppers choosing to stay in the comfort of their own homes to make their Black Friday purchases, instead of having to wrestle their way through crowded stores.
The trend also shows that customers are less willing to wait for Cyber Monday to make online deals.
Retailers will likely adjust their sales strategies in next year's Black Friday, with online channels to get even more exposure. This would be advantageous for customers who have already adopted the mindset of making their Black Friday purchases online, as they can expect for more deals and services to be offered to online buyers.
Will Cyber Monday 2016 Do Better?
"With the full day total coming in at $3.34 billion, Black Friday may have just dethroned Cyber Monday's position as the largest online shopping day of the year," wrote Adobe Digital Insights principal analyst and director Tamara Gaffney.
We will find out for sure which shopping holiday gets bragging rights as the most lucrative one for retailers once Cyber Monday 2016 rolls in.
