US online shoppers spend USD 534 million on Black Friday, up 1% as compared to 2007

Statistics indicate that US online spending during Black Friday hit USD $534 million in 2008, which represents a 1 percent increase as compared to the USD $531 million reported in the corresponding period of 2007.

For the first 28 days of the November - December 2008 period, online buyers have spent USD 10.41 billion, a decline of 4 percent over the same period of the previous year, when e-commerce spending reached USD 10.83 billion. During Thanksgiving Day, online sales have grown by 6 percent from USD 272 million in 2007 to USD 288 million in 2008.

Data released by internet marketing research company comScore reveals that the busiest part of Black Friday as far as online sales are concerned was the period between 12:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs, when the highest share of Black Friday online sales was recorded, namely 24 percent, while between 8:00 hrs and 12:00 hrs the share of money spent reached 23.1 percent.