US 'Black Friday' online spending put at record $10.8 bln

NEW YORK

American consumers spent a record $10.8 billion online during "Black Friday" promotions, with many using artificial intelligence tools to find the best deals, Adobe Analytics announced on Dec. 30.

Total sales were 10.2 percent higher than on Black Friday in 2023, it said.

The biggest sales during the annual day-after-Thanksgiving promotions were for toys, jewelry, household appliances, skin- and hair-care products, clothes and electronic devices.

Passing the $10 billion mark was an important step for electronic commerce, given that Black Friday shopping traditionally has been in brick-and-mortar stores, according to Adobe Digital Insights analyst Vivek Pandya.

The high spending totals were the result not of price inflation but of rising demand, Adobe said, adding that electronic sales had seen prices decline for 26 straight months, down 2.9 percent in October from the same month in 2023.

AI appeared to play a significant role. Traffic on sites that use artificial intelligence to help guide consumers was up a huge 1,800 percent from last year's Black Friday, Adobe said.

An Adobe survey found that consumers used AI not just to find the best deals but to quickly locate specific articles or to get product recommendations.