Dubai: The reports of Black Friday’s death may be premature. Shoppers are just now doing their holiday shopping from home.
Black Friday and Thanksgiving online sales swelled to new highs as retailers raked in a record $7.9 billion (Dh29 billion) in sales, up 17.9 per cent from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures transactions at the largest 100 US web retailers.
Adobe said Cyber Monday, the traditional start for online-only holiday sales, is expected to drive up sales by an additional $6.6 billion, which would make it the largest US online shopping day in history.
Meanwhile at the malls, Reuters reporters and industry analysts noted anecdotal signs of muted activity — fewer cars in mall parking lots, shoppers leaving stores without purchases in hand.
Online sales this past weekend in the UAE are showing preliminary indications of a spike. Both heavyweights of physical and online retail squared off, with Souq’s White Friday competing against the Super Sale running at Dubai’s malls.
While no data was immediately available from either sale, Souq told Gulf News that this year’s performance was a big improvement on its already impressive 2016 results, describing them as “much better”. Footfall at the malls was strong, but not spectacular.
Gulf News has also seen multiple messages from UAE retailers to customers, apologizing for late deliveries due to high demand.
Boom for Bezos
Jeff Bezos is the world’s newest $100 billion mogul. The Amazon.com Inc founder’s fortune is up $2.4 billion to $100.3 billion, as the online retailer’s shares jumped more than 2 per cent on optimism for Black Friday sales. The $100 billion milestone makes Bezos, 53, the first billionaire to build a 12-figure net worth since 1999, when Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates hit the mark.
Bezos’ fortune rose $32.6 billion this year through Thursday, the largest increase of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
