Early data for Black Friday suggest a mixed bag for online sales as inflation hits shoppers ahead of the holiday season.
Shopify Inc. SHOP-T said sales by merchants on its system set a new record for Black Friday as they rose 17 per cent compared with a year ago.
The e-commerce company said merchant sales from the start of Black Friday in New Zealand through to the end of the period in California totalled US$3.36 billion, with sales of US$3.5 million per minute at the peak.
However, Salesforce said online sales in Canada were down year over year for Black Friday, though they increased globally by three per cent. Traffic from customers on computers was down 10 per cent, while traffic from mobile devices was down one per cent
Discounts were also steeper, up 10 per cent from last year, Salesforce said.
Shopify said top product categories were apparel and accessories, followed by health and beauty, and home and garden.
Shopify provides e-commerce tools for businesses in more than 175 countries. Top selling countries and cities where shoppers made purchases from were the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.