The Thanksgiving shopping period is fully under way, and a report from Adobe Digital Insights shares details on what we’re buying during this time.
The top selling products on Black Friday were laptops, with lots of people taking advantage of the savings to pick up a new machine. Other top sellers were games like God of War and Let’s Go Pikachu, and children’s toys like Fingerlings. This is a reminder that although Black Friday in increasingly thought of as a day for adults to pick up big ticket items like electronics and appliances, the market for kid’s toys is still a significant part of sales.
There has also been a rise in smartphone use for purchasing. The majority of customers shopping in November still used a desktop or laptop machine, with 60 percent of sales or $27.1 billion spent. But a big chunk of shoppers — 30 percent, spending a combined $13.1 billion — shopped using their smartphone. The remaining 10 percent of customers, spending a total of $4 billion, shopped from a tablet.
Overall, the sales on Black Friday are getting larger each year. In 2018, an enormous total of $6.2 billion was spent on the single day alone, which is up 23.6 percent from last year. The trend for more spending can be seen over the month of November as well, as in 2018 consumers spent a total of $44.2 billion between November 1 and November 23, up from $37.1 billion in the same period last year.
The big spending period is expanding too. With the rising popularity of Cyber Monday in addition to Black Friday, the entire week in November has become a key time for stores. There have been four days of November so far in which spending has topped out at over $2 billion per day: the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving day, Black Friday, and the Saturday following Black Friday which is known as Small Business Saturday.
If you’re already planning out your future purchases for next year, then the Adobe report also included advice for when to buy certain products. Apparently Black Friday is the best day to buy computers, on which you can expect to save 16 percent, 33 percent on tablets, and televisions, on which you can save 22 percent. But if you’re looking for apparel, jewelry, or appliances, then you should wait for the weekend, when you can expect to save between five and 22 percent on these goods. And lastly, if you’re wanting to pick up a treat for a child, then Cyber Monday is the best time to buy toys as you can save an average of 19 percent then.
