How Much Money Is Spent on Black Friday? (2013–2022)
With US holiday sales rising year after year, it’s clear that the potential for businesses to generate revenue during this period is immense. In fact, winter holidays ranked as the third busiest shopping period of 2022, with consumers spending an average of $832.84 per person over the entire season.
As one of the biggest retail sales days of the year, Black Friday, which falls during the winter holidays, is one event that brands need to focus on. To understand how businesses can benefit from marketing their stores for Black Friday, we need to first look at how much money is spent on Black Friday.
Black Friday spending: 2013–2021
Recent statistics on Black Friday spending show that total online sales rose annually from 2013 to 2020. In 2013, overall online sales on Black Friday registered at $1.9 billion. By 2020, this had surged to $9 billion, marking an average annual growth rate of 25% and increasing by nearly fivefold in seven years.
The biggest annual increase during this period came in 2017, when Black Friday spending grew by 50.6%, from $3.3 billion to $5 billion. Even the smallest yearly increase, which took place in 2015, registered a double-digit growth rate of 12.5%.
In 2021, Black Friday spending fell for the first time in at least eight years, which analysts attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical woes. That year, consumers spent $8.9 billion online on Black Friday, a marginal decline of 1.1% from 2020.
Black Friday sales numbers: 2022
The latest Black Friday sales numbers for 2022 show that expenditure for this shopping holiday has rebounded following 2021’s dip. Total online sales hit $9.12 billion, the highest amount ever recorded. It also marked a 2.3% annual rise.
Aside from knowing overall Black Friday sales numbers, preparing your ecommerce store for Black Friday also requires understanding key metrics on consumers’ online shopping behavior.
Data on 2022’s Black Friday spending shows that online conversion rates for the day were higher on desktops (5.6%) than mobile devices (3.3%). The average number of items bought per order was also higher for checkouts on desktops (3.61) than on smartphones (2.93) and tablets (2.83).
These numbers suggest that despite rising mobile commerce sales, many consumers still prefer to shop online on desktops than mobile devices.