Black Friday sales online grew an astonishing 24% from last year, reported the Wall Street Journal. The data was received from IBM, which tracked 500 retailer's websites and gathered real-time sales data on the big sales day. E-commerce has been a huge investment made by department stores, aware of the holiday season, and the online sales numbers show it paid off. Their sales grew to 59% this year as well.The success in sales online on Black Friday was not alone. Store sales rose almost 7% this year. ShopperTrak, the world's largest provider of retailing foot traffic, stated store sales increased to $11.4 billion, which is $1 billion more than 2010. Interestingly enough, purchases via mobile devices accounted for 9.8% of the online sales, far surpassing the much lower 3.2% of last year. Consumers used their mobile devices to not only shop, but to perform price comparisons. Devices like the Apple ipad and iphone accounted for 10% of online traffic.
Black Friday is generally held as the beginning of the holiday shopping season and so far it's off to a great start. The question many retailers are asking is will the strong momentum carry throughout the entire holiday season. Companies can keep their online sales going if they can find a way to keep relatively good pricing. Using a courier delivery service is a cost-effective delivery system that can meet online demand. Couriers like A-1 Express have a national footprint, enabling them to assist fulfillment centers anywhere in the country. They can provide a logistical solution to help companies to continue to do well online this holiday season.