US consumers spent $595 million shopping online on Black Friday 2009, an increase of 11% compared with Black Friday 2008—and the second heaviest online spending day to date in 2009—according to comScore.
In addition, online spending during the first 27 days of the November reached $10.57 billion, an increase of 3% compared with the same period last year.
Online Traffic to Deal Websites
Among a select group of Black Friday deal-seeking sites monitored by comScore, BFads.net received 3.9 million unique visits on Black Friday, a 4% increase from last year. BlackFriday.info traffic fell 17% to 3.5 million unique visits, while Black-Friday.net more than doubled to 2.3 million unique visits.
Other Black Friday deal-seeking data:
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Traffic to coupon sites on Black Friday grew 17% from last year, to 3.3 million visitors.
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BlackFriday.info was the most-visited coupon site on Black Friday with 748,000 unique visitors, followed by RetailMeNot.com (356,000 visitors) and Eversave.com (253,000).
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ShopLocal.com ranked as the most visited comparison-shopping site on Black Friday with 2 million visitors, up 31% from last year.
Black Friday Traffic Led by Amazon
Five retail properties surpassed four million US unique visitors on Black Friday. Among those properties, Amazon was the most visited retail website, with a 28% increase in unique visitors compared with the same day last year; Wal-Mart (22% increase) and Apple (39% increase) followed.
"Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world," said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.
"The $595 million in online spending this Black Friday...suggests the online holiday season may be shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, [but] it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
"Cyber Monday—the traditional kick-off to the online holiday shopping season—and the subsequent weeks will be the real test for how online retailers fare this season. That said, this is a very encouraging start. "
