By Sumit Passary | Nov 27, 2012 09:47 AM EST
Black Friday saw a surge in retail spend as crowds flocked at brick and mortar stores, but a new report from comScore indicates that online spend was not too far behind and e-retailers drew in record sales figures of $1 billion.
Follow us
Per research firm comScoe, consumers spent $1.042 billion on purchasing goods online on Black Friday, which is up 26 percent from the same day in 2011. What's more, Black Friday 2012 now has the distinction of being the "heaviest online spending day to date in 2012." Thanksgiving 2012 didn't fare too badly either and has shown a 32 percent increase to $633 million when compared to last year.
According to comScore, the e-commerce spend for this holiday season for the first 23 days of November -December is already $13.7 billion, which is a 16 percent increase from the same period in 2011.
"Despite the frenzy of media coverage surrounding the importance of Black Friday in the brick-and-mortar world, we continue to see this shopping day become more and more prominent in the e-commerce channel - particularly among those who prefer to avoid crowds at the stores," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "With Black Friday online sales up 26 percent and surpassing $1 billion for the first time, coupled with early reports indicating that Black Friday sales in retail stores were down 1.8 percent, we can now confidently call it a multi-channel marketing phenomenon. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving Day - which has historically been a lighter online holiday shopping day - continues to gain steam and grew well ahead of the current pace as more consumers opted to kick off their holiday shopping immediately after the big meal to take advantage of aggressive retailer promotions."
Amazon took the numero uno e-retailer honors on Black Friday, followed by Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, and Apple in the top five. Amazon also posted the highest "year-over-year visitor growth rate among the top five retailers."
Additionally, nearly 57.3 million Americans visited e-retail sites on Black Friday, which is an increase of 18 percent over last year.
The top five growing product categories were digital content & subscriptions, toys, consumer packaged goods, video game consoles & accessories, and consumer electronics.
Earlier this month, comScore predicted that online holiday spend will hit $43.4 billion. If the current holiday spend figures are any indication, it seems that comScore's estimated figures may be overtaken.
© 2013 Mobile & Apps All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Nokia Launched LiveSight For HERE Maps On Windows Phone 8 
Amazon Launches 7-Inch And 8.9-Inch Kindle Fire HD Tablets In 170 Countries 
Recharge Your Phone In 20 Seconds With This Revolutionary Device 
Former Nokia Team Jolla, Announces First Sailfish Powered Smartphone For Asia 
AT&T Promises Cellular Video Calls, Mobile Video Chat For All Customers 
