Black Friday numbers are strong across the board, according to initial reports coming in today from retailers and payments companies. As IBM reported earlier today, total online sales saw a surge of 20.7 percent in spending from last year. eBay-owned PayPal is reporting that Black Friday global mobile payments volume was up 193 percent from last year.
eBay is also reporting a major increase in transactions; total mobile volume in the U.S. was up 153 percent, and GSI Commerce saw a 198 percent jump in mobile sales.
PayPal spokesperson Anuj Nayar says that the payments giant believes that this is the year where holiday shopping on mobile devices has gone mainstream. Yesterday, shoppers in Houston made the most purchases via PayPal using mobile phones. For the previous three years, New York City has taken the top spot.
For Thanksgiving, eBay saw a 133 percent increase in mobile volume transacted; and PayPal saw a 173 percent increase. While more shoppers are hitting their phones and tablets for sales on Thanksgiving, it’s also apparent that consumers are perhaps forgoing the malls and stores for mobile shopping on Black Friday, as well.
IBM says department stores saw online sales grow by 16.8 percent over Black Friday 2011. And mobile sales reached 16.3 percent of total sales for Black Friday. Design-focused e-commerce site Fab says that sales were up 300% yesterday vs 2011. And mobile sales tripled vs. last year.
Next up is Cyber Monday, which is also expected to see strong growth in mobile as more consumers use their phones at work to purchase items.