Far from being deterred by inflation and the sluggish economy, bargain hunters flocked in droves to the discounts offered by merchants during Black Friday.
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According to Canadian commerce giant Shopify, which provides payment solutions to businesses around the world, its customers racked up sales totaling US$3.36 billion (C$4.5 billion) on Friday, setting a new record.
That’s up 17% from 2021, or 19% in constant dollars, Shopify said. At the peak of sales, retailers were raking in, at the stroke of noon, about US$3.5 million per minute.
The average basket reached US$102.31, or approximately C$137.
Sales were particularly strong in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, the Ottawa-based flagship also noted.
Cyber Monday also promised great sales to Spotify customers. Still on Monday evening, Spotify recorded sales exceeding US$1.8 million per minute, while more than 56 million buyers had done business during the day with a merchant using the services of the Canadian company.
Shopify is not the only company to have noted a marked enthusiasm from consumers. Adobe Analystics, for its part, reported that in the United States alone, customers spent US$9.2 billion on purchases of all kinds on the web on Friday, an amount up 2.3%.