Black Friday 2012 was a big win for traditional brick and mortar retailers and just as big of a win for online stores. According to comScore, Black Friday online sales topped $1 billion for the first time.
As expected, Amazon.com was the most trafficked online store for Black Friday while Walmart finished in second place followed by Best Buy, Target, and Apple.
Black Friday was preceded this year by a slew of Thanksgiving night offers from Sears, Toys”R”Us, and most notably Walmart. Thirty-five million Americans visited retailer stores and online commerce sites on Thursday, up from 29 million in 2011. Despite fears that Thursday shopping would cut into sales, an estimated 89 million Americans still went out for low priced goods on Black Friday, up 3.1 percent from 2011.
The National Retail Federation reports that the four-day holiday weekend was up by 12.8 percent year-over-year.
While e-commerce websites account for just 10 percent of annual consumer spending, customers are quickly gravitating towards the online shopping medium, taking money out of the pockets of traditional retailers.
Despite a still shaky economy, consumers took to the stores in droves with an estimated 139.4 million adults visiting US stores and websites from Thanksgiving through Sunday.
The National Retail Federation estimated that total spending for the weekend rose to $59.1 billion from $52.4 billion last year.
According to the NRF, if people who shopped on more than one day are added the number is closer to 247 million online and in-store visits.
The survey also found that consumer spending increased from $398 in 2011 to $423 in 2012.
The National Retail Federation conducted its survey from November 23 to November 24 and included 4,005 consumers.
With Cyber Monday on its way, consumers could soon find themselves boosting the US economy even further.
