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Yesterday Americans Spent $5 Billion Online (cnn.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the buy-something-day dept.

An anonymous reader quotes CNN Money: Black Friday 2017 was all about digital sales. American shoppers spent a record $5 billion in 24 hours. That marks a 16.9% increase in dollars spent online compared with Black Friday 2016, according to data from Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks 80% of online spending at America's 100 largest retail websites... Meanwhile, malls and big-box retailers were left only slightly emptier. Early estimates from ShopperTrak, a data analytics company that measures the number of shoppers at stores, said foot traffic "decreased less than one percent when compared to Black Friday 2016."

68 comments

  1. China double-11 shopping festival outspent us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/22791/double-11-2017/

    25.3 billion US dollars total GMV and 39% YoY growth. Really?

    1. Re:China double-11 shopping festival outspent us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe not.

      http://www.ntd.tv/2017/11/13/singles-day-online-shopping-festival-in-china-brings-big-sales-fraud-addiction-and-tragedy/

    2. Re:China double-11 shopping festival outspent us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No wonder. China is the No 1 economy.
      USA sucks ass, a fucking dictatorship of fee and dollar slavery.

  2. More online, no surprise by thereitis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't have to spend any gas, spend less time, and don't have to deal with people exercising their primate brains elbowing each other just to save a few dollars. Just look at the black friday crowd videos on Youtube. You'd think the apocalypse had just been announced.

    1. Re:More online, no surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice face. Want a banana?

    2. Re:More online, no surprise by rtb61 · · Score: 1, Troll

      It's online, the entire first come first serve insanity can be entirely faked. Sure from the rest of the worlds point of view, online black Friday (although in today's SJW climate shouldn't it be a white Friday to reflect the shallowness of it all) is better, so we don't have to watch the consumer ugliness of the US but online specials can be entirely fabricated, public manipulations.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:More online, no surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't have to spend any gas, spend less time, and don't have to deal with people exercising their primate brains elbowing each other just to save a few dollars.

      Until trucks start using electric, one way or another you're spending money on gas. I don't doubt you spent less time but there's a heavy selection bias in limiting yourself to just those things you plan to get. If you're already very certain what those things are, that's great. But rarely does that work for me when it comes to Christmas shopping. As for people exercising their primate brains and elbowing each other, the most crowded place I went to was also the one with some of the most courteous when it came to accidentally bumping into each other without any of the elbowing you suggest.

      Seriously, the whole thing about Black Friday crowd videos is actually proof of basically nothing. People murder people all the time, literally to the tune of at least one murder a day in most larger cities. Rarely is this capture on camera because there aren't crowds with cameras planning to witness the spectacle. And I'd tend to argue that the atmosphere that suggests such is possible is in the same the results in things like soccer riots, school shootings, etc. Such, of course, doesn't excuse it. Just that media coverage, more than anything, amplifies your awareness of it.

      PS - On a not unrelated note, I was lucky enough to spot a PS2 (without cords) at a Salvation Army for $1.00 thanks to being out on Black Friday. Even though it, unsurprisingly, doesn't work, the ethernet adapter means it a good deal. Certainly, if I was left up to online shopping, I never would have gotten it.

    4. Re:More online, no surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure but you have to wait. You can't have it right now.

    5. Re: More online, no surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes I need to have it right now, must have it right now... So I can wrap it up and put it under the tree I don't have yet, and let it sit for 30 days.

    6. Re: More online, no surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, we get it. You need to show the world how cool you are and how you reject the whole notion of anything not going your way ever.

      You should get out of your mom's basement sometime though. A little sunlight is good for you.

    7. Re:More online, no surprise by gtall · · Score: 1

      Try the little pink pills next time.

    8. Re:More online, no surprise by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "I don't have to spend any gas, spend less time, and don't have to deal with people exercising their primate brains elbowing each other just to save a few dollars."

      indeed. I don't get it either, I prefer to buy online in my underwear on the couch.
      It's more comfortable and you don't even have to buy clothes anymore, just undies. :-)

    9. Re:More online, no surprise by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      " I don't doubt you spent less time but there's a heavy selection bias in limiting yourself to just those things you plan to get."

      It doesn't matter. It's all manufactured by Chinese kids anyway.

    10. Re: More online, no surprise by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "You should get out of your mom's basement sometime though. A little sunlight is good for you."

      Why? There were great online deals on solariums.

    11. Re: More online, no surprise by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      why would you fight traffic when you can do everything online. you are defeating the purpose of a home computer / smart phone.

    12. Re:More online, no surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd love to know what that comment fundamentally means because as far as I can tell, you're just trying to make a pejorative comment about either me, yourself, or US capitalism in general. The last part, especially, sort of invalidates bring up Black Friday specifically let alone going to stores to shop.

  3. wat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    $5 billion / 325 million = rough numbers $15 and change per individual (note: not per household). By comparison, yesterday I spent $25 on groceries at the local store. It was a bit more crowded than usual, but I didn't think much of it. I totally forgot it was "Black Friday" until I saw this headline.

    I mean I guess I get that it's a big deal that people spent so much online instead of locally, but $15 per individual isn't really that much money in the grand scheme of things.

    1. Re:wat by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "I mean I guess I get that it's a big deal that people spent so much online instead of locally, but $15 per individual isn't really that much money in the grand scheme of things."

      So why are there then so many empty storefronts in every town?

    2. Re: wat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because they keep building commercial buildings/strip malls even if there's nobody to buy it?

  4. Twelve dollars each by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BFD. I hate this style of headline, that presents some aggregate rather than per capita stat. And even the aggregate stat is usually not based on sound data anyway.

  5. I scored one thing online... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a pair of Levi 501 jeans in the Cry Baby wash. Originally $69, got them for $17.

    1. Re:I scored one thing online... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awesome! You got 75% off of a price that they specially inflated by at least 4x just for this "sale"!

  6. I SAVED money by p51d007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I didn't buy a bloody thing :)

    1. Re:I SAVED money by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      I did buy a bloody thing. I'm into the Addam's Family look. Scares the riff raff relatives away.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:I SAVED money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering Brexit, you're probably better off saving your money. Leave buying to the people with real purchasing power.

  7. Online shopping for the win. by Quato · · Score: 1

    Too many people with no manners out on Black Friday. I had some lady try to run me over with her shopping cart in the Target toy section a couple years ago. I didn't move, and told her, "If you hit me with that cart, we have a problem." She stopped and grunted at me like a goddamn caveman. No manners.

    1. Re:Online shopping for the win. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... you stood your ground and warned a fellow shopper, and /she/ was the one without manners. Mmmmkay. Perhaps you're one of those who saunters down the middle of the aisle aimlessly looking left and right while the rest of us try to work around you? Or worse, you and your family of three walk five-wide crowding the stores with your selfish habits. Next time, consider just stepping aside... kthxbye.

  8. Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't know that it's a great thing, necessarily. Debt is absolutely out of control. The next recession could be a real financial apocalypse if people don't wise up.

    1. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course it's a great thing. The idiots will end up paying even more for their items. With any luck, they will pay enough in interest that they will have effectively saved nothing by buying "on sale".

    2. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      could be a real financial apocalypse if people don't wise up.

      China will own our asses. I'm brushing up on my Mandarin. Hey, there's a gift idea for ya.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by mentil · · Score: 2

      Too bad half of the Chinese don't speak Mandarin. Also, the ~$1T we owe them is about what is handed by the Fed to the Treasury each year on a silver platter. If for some reason China said 'pay up or else!!' they'd just print another Trillion, no sweat. Much ado about nothing.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    4. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by geekmux · · Score: 2

      I don't know that it's a great thing, necessarily. Debt is absolutely out of control. The next recession could be a real financial apocalypse if people don't wise up.

      US National Debt was 8 trillion 10 years ago.

      It's over 20 trillion today.

      Consumers learned that behavior from Uncle Sam.

    5. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about the other couple Trillion you owe them as well? Plus, do you think anyone else will keep lending you money after you just printed 3 Trillion to 'pay of' the people who you borrowed from the last time. Would make the Great Recession look like storm in a teacup. Financial armageddon and the US would be finished.

    6. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by gtall · · Score: 1

      To put the matter in perspective, the total American debt is roughly $20 trillion. Foreign countries own about $3.2 trillion, the rest is owned by Americans or the American government.

      A good portion of the government portion, about $5.3 trillion, is owned by Social Security, essentially IOUs. Those of you thinking that this is money stored in a mattress somewhere waiting to be spent, think again. SS is a pay as you go system. When the in-flows fall below outflows (as what is close to the situation now), then the money must come from the general fund. That fund is the same one that funds the discretionary spending (about $1.2 trillion now). Discretionary is the stuff that funds the military (about half of the $1.2 Trillion..but that will rise shortly). It also funds NiH, that asshole Pai, FAA, FDA, NSF, EPA, and a host of other bits and bobs that we have asked the government to fund.

      Of the remaining 2/3s of the budget, SS, medicare, medicaid, etc., is the non-discretionary part. The non-discretionary means it is a part of U.S. law to fund those programs. Those are also the programs that are funding the Blue-Haired, we used to know them as the Baby-Boomers, then they became the Me-Generation, now they are the Give-it-to-Me-Now-and-Screw-Everyone-Else generation.

      Before that generation goes tits-up, SS and Medicare will necessarily be cut, so you youngins need to start saving. The current tax give-away masquerading as tax reform is being driven by Republican donors who promised the party they'd stop their political donations if they didn't get their tax cut. That means the federal budget deficit will expand quite a bit. The Republicans will then use this as a cudgel to beat back all those things they think government shouldn't be doing.The Democrats will run against this by promising more government goodies, which won't be paid for and the deficit and debt will also go up. The total debt will crowd out other spending and cause interest rates to rise because buyers of that debt will require a higher payoff to take the risk the U.S. will not default.

      The end result will be (1) the blue-haired get screwed, (2) the military will shrink, (3) the worlds' bad boys will cause more trouble with the U.S. in retreat, (4) the poor will get screwed...yet again, (5) Science won't get funded, (6) medical advances will slow down (no longer science allowed). Oh, and the Republican's current infatuation with closing the borders and no trade agreements mean the U.S. will lose its export markets. Mexico is already starting to buy S. American farm produce over the U.S.'s.

    7. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by gtall · · Score: 1

      Consumers weren't paying attention to Uncle Sam. They paid attention to their TVs which told them they could whizzy things now and pay for them in the future. Education loans were merely a large example.

      Put the blame where it belongs, the American people are not saints who merely got screwed by government behavior. They were the ones who bought houses they couldn't afford, flipped house, bought stuff on credit.

      They also refused to believe that character matters when electing politicians.

    8. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by thejynxed · · Score: 1

      Mexico should start buying more of South America's so that we stop trying to keep the desert in California wet where they currently grow most of the things that Mexico was buying. Making farms out of desert is one of the reasons California struggles to keep any water in their aquifers, let alone get water to places like SF or SD. Phoenix has a similar issue and it's already been warned that it might not even be inhabitable by 2050.

      --
      @Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
    9. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mexico should start buying more of South America's so that we stop trying to keep the desert in California wet where they currently grow most of the things that Mexico was buying. Making farms out of desert is one of the reasons California struggles to keep any water in their aquifers, let alone get water to places like SF or SD. Phoenix has a similar issue and it's already been warned that it might not even be inhabitable by 2050.

      Ha!

      Mexico's treatment of those south of it is an exploitative US white supremacist's wet dream should the US adopt the same policy towards Mexico. Fences, checkpoints, arrests, disappearances, corrupt exploitation of illegal labor...

    10. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      The next recession?

      It will just be a buying opportunity for anyone who is smart enough not to have a lot of debt. Property and other assets going down in 2001 and 2008 were just called ... buying opportunities.

    11. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To put the matter in perspective, the total American debt is roughly $20 trillion. Foreign countries own about $3.2 trillion, the rest is owned by Americans or the American government.

      Please use your terms more precisely, that's not the Total American debt. That's the Federal debt. You'll just confuse your terms.

      A good portion of the government portion, about $5.3 trillion, is owned by Social Security, essentially IOUs. Those of you thinking that this is money stored in a mattress somewhere waiting to be spent, think again.

      Why would somebody think something stupid?

      SS is a pay as you go system. When the in-flows fall below outflows (as what is close to the situation now), then the money must come from the general fund.

      Wrong! You leave out the reserve, and of course...you assume something.

      That fund is the same one that funds the discretionary spending (about $1.2 trillion now). Discretionary is the stuff that funds the military (about half of the $1.2 Trillion..but that will rise shortly). It also funds NiH, that asshole Pai, FAA, FDA, NSF, EPA, and a host of other bits and bobs that we have asked the government to fund.

      Nope! I never asked for that, stop assuming things. But besides that, discretionary is merely a term of no particular value in itself.

      Of the remaining 2/3s of the budget, SS, medicare, medicaid, etc., is the non-discretionary part.

      Nope! You're mixing terms again. You're not even pointing out the amount of state (as opposed to federal) funding in some of those.

      The non-discretionary means it is a part of U.S. law to fund those programs.

      All federal government spending is by law. In fact, Congress has even passed a law to require spending the money they allocate, as well as forbidding entry into contracts that they didn't approve. And of course, all the quibbling over the "Congress didn't pass a budget" is just pointless gabble over a technicality. They did pass a spending bill, they just didn't call it a budget because they're dumb, that's all.

      What you should really mean is that the particulars as previously referenced are considered to be a guaranteed system, a contractual agreement made, of long-term value and promise.

      Those are also the programs that are funding the Blue-Haired, we used to know them as the Baby-Boomers, then they became the Me-Generation, now they are the Give-it-to-Me-Now-and-Screw-Everyone-Else generation.

      Before that generation goes tits-up, SS and Medicare will necessarily be cut, so you youngins need to start saving.

      Nope. Not only is there no necessity to cut SS and Medicare, because you know what Congress can do? Start assessing the costs better, there's no need to start saving. Saving is just austerity by another name.

      Austerity as a general policy is often misguided and mistaken, as good as diet as fasting.

      The current tax give-away masquerading as tax reform is being driven by Republican donors who promised the party they'd stop their political donations if they didn't get their tax cut. That means the federal budget deficit will expand quite a bit. The Republicans will then use this as a cudgel to beat back all those things they think government shouldn't be doing.

      Half-right. They'll use it to justify failing government, and yes, this is part of their recognized psychosis.

      The Democrats will run against this by promising more government goodies, which won't be paid for and the deficit and debt will also go up.

      Yeah, you wish there was one party that was actually serious about financial management, but then you learn that Andrew Jackson's obsessive compulsion with that matter didn't help either.

      The total debt will crowd out other spending and cause inter

    12. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So people spent money they don't have to buy stuff they don't need mostly made by underpaid wage-slaves in a third world country using oil (plastic) and coal (power) we can't afford to use if we want a future on this planet?

      And this is a good thing... how, exactly?

    13. Re:Since that 5 billion was mostly credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FWIW basically any Chinese person under 60 can at least get by in Mandarin, even if it isn't the dialect they speak themselves.

  9. That's only 4 US elections by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keep in mind that's only about 4 Presidential election cycles worth. ATnT Verizon and the other telcos alone, spent north of $140 million this election cycle.

    This year they spent $5 billion, next it will be $6 billion, with an extra billion tacked on for the Verizon 'access' fee.

  10. Worth it! by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 1

    I didn't buy *anything* for any of my deadbeat relatives. I just bought a bunch of stuff that will keep me amused for a few weeks. Money well spent imo.

  11. So far, I've spent: $0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I doubt it will go much higher.

  12. Buy it! by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    Faith No More's Black Friday, says it all, enjoy!

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  13. Still a drop in a teacup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is still a drop in a teacup compared to Singles Day. Alibaba alone did US $25.4 billion on Singles day, and JD.com did another $19 billion. Two retailers by themselves are almost 10 times the size of Black Friday, and that is not counting the countless others making huge business. Total business on the day is estimated to exceed $100 billion. Alibaba alone does more business in several minutes on Singles Day than many large US retailers do in a year.

    Black Friday is not a big event. In fact, the UsA in total is rapidly fading in significance in terms of online sales.

  14. Retail shot themselves in the foot by skaag · · Score: 1

    When you watch those videos of people trampling each other the moment the doors open, to buy a 40" television for $99, that does not exactly inspire someone to go to that store next Black Friday. That's why I didn't go out to Best Buy this Friday, and opted instead to just order my robot vacuum from Amazon, where it was priced exactly the same...

    --

    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... time... to... die...

  15. Thanks, Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism.

  16. american material greed at its finest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And all of it on themselves!!!

  17. So 5% of Bezos' 100 billion fortune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of America on the busiest shopping day of the year can only manage a mere 5%? That is pitiful! I'm disappointed people, you can do better! Let's shoot for a tithe at least.

  18. Black Friday at my house by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So I was home yesterday. Here we have 1 day delivery on online purchases and I think I may have been the only person in my apartment building home. Long story short, my entire entry way is full of my neighbour's parcels and I've had a steady stream of people coming to pick them up.

    Quite bizarre.

  19. Me too! by antdude · · Score: 1

    I'd rather pay for meals with family, friends, etc. as gifts. Also, I am still unemployed (almost a year) so I can't spend much.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  20. I'd like to say, "Whoosh!" by gerald.edward.butler · · Score: 1

    But, I think that he may not have been joking and you are correct to call him the rude one. It's so outlandish what he said, that it's either a "Whoosh!", or, he is a fucking prick!

  21. Not me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I sunk all my money into a cryptocurrency known as Gamestop Hug Points. They won't give me jack for my games, but I can occasionally present my gift card to get a hug from the owner. (Tip: It's overhyped, wait five years til he's desperate to get rid of these hugs.)

  22. Best time to buy things... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

    is after Christmas and New Years' when people's credit card bills from Black Friday come due. Nothing like getting a 50% deal on a scratch-n-dent return or something a pawn shop posts on Craigslist.

    Even better, get a 2-3 year old TV which a sheep (baa-baa) just put on Craigslist (or out onto the curb) because they needed the latest, greatest, 8k OLED smart telescreen with camera and mic to listen to your home better..

    1. Re:Best time to buy things... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I got a 40" HDTV for free. I guess it didn't have built-in internet as wasn't 4K so my neighbor threw it away. 1080p seems crystal clear to me.

    2. Re:Best time to buy things... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      Yep, glasses or no, I can't tell the difference between 1080p and 4k at watching distance.

    3. Re:Best time to buy things... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4k is not the big selling point: HDR is. Actually seeing bright and dark parts of the screen properly.

    4. Re:Best time to buy things... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      At an hour's TV time a few times per week, can't say I give a cr@p, at least for $2000 worth of cr@p... :)

  23. Why not both? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lock them both up!

  24. In-store sales numbers by 14erCleaner · · Score: 1

    It took a lot of digging and some inference, but apparently in-store purchases on Black Friday 2016 were about $45 billion, so the online fraction is still only about 10% of the total. I guess that doesn't make a good headline, though...

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
  25. Better deals and greater availability of the deals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I spent 3x more online this year than I did last year. It wasn't a matter of having more money, in fact I am being paid less and had to drain my savings to pay for car repairs. The difference was that there were far better deals and those deals lasted a lot longer than previous years. Discounts of over 50% on Amazon lasted for 24-72 hours. Daily deals lasted 4 hours and it was easy to see what was coming up. Other websites for stores like BestBuy and Walmart also announced their sales in advance so you knew what to expect from each. There were no "doorbusters" online, you could sit back and relax while taking time to consider purchases and had plenty to choose from.

    The only failure this year has been Nintendo which completely failed to get Classic SNES systems in stock anywhere on Earth.

  26. Re:Better deals and greater availability of the de by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

    So a lot of the holiday spending that would have occurred between Black Friday and X-mess was shifted to November vs December.

    BTW - if you had less money, why did you spend more? Were the things you bought actual necessities?