The Black Friday weekend was a grand success for retailers this year, as it is every year. This year though, there were definitely challenges and some changes to how things were done last year that helped with the cash flow. Challenges with the pandemic continuing and supply chain issues, caused retailers to do things a little differently this year.

But one thing is for certain, the Black Friday holiday weekend will continue to be the biggest money making event of the year. As a retailer, if you aren’t working and planning for this weekend, at the very least 6 months in advance, methinks thou should pick up a Marketing 101 book!

$14 Billion in Online Black Friday Sales

Customers spent $5.1 billion ONLINE on Thanksgiving Day, which was on par with last year. And $8.9 billion online on Black Friday, which was LESS than 2020. Totaling $14 Billion. There was A LOT more Foot Traffic in physical stores than in 2020. (numbers from Adobe Analytics)

Black Friday Sales Started Early

The reason it went down a bit was because as early as October we started seeing Black Friday savings from a lot of big retailers. These early bird savings allowed many consumers to spread out their spending, so customers actually spent a little less on Friday than previous years because they jumped on those early deals.

In Store Shopping

The other reason for the decrease in Black Friday online sales was because many retailers chose to remain closed on Thanksgiving and so there was more foot traffic on Friday in physical stores.

Foot traffic increased 48% from last year! But still hasn’t gone back to pre-pandemic levels yet. But shoppers were definitely a lot more comfortable going in store this year.

Popular Buys

Mainly clothing! Hot products included denim, mainly loosefitting jeans, going-out clothing like cute short dresses for prom & tailored clothing, cozy sweaters and athleisure. Beauty and fragrances were also on the list of top buys according to analysts at Cowen & Co.