Shopify said that its merchants made a record amount of Black Friday sales this year, with more than $1 million in sales going through its system per minute at the peak.
The platform — which has over 500,000 merchants — beat sales from last year’s high of $555,716. All of Shopify’s data was based on sales experienced by its businesses in 175 countries around the world.
“Small businesses are the foundation of the global economy, and the impressive amount of growth shows more shoppers want to buy from independent entrepreneurs.”
“Small businesses are the foundation of the global economy, and the impressive amount of growth we saw on Black Friday goes to show that more and more shoppers want to buy from independent entrepreneurs,” said Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify. “Shopify’s focus is to set up our merchants for success, especially during this busy time of year. That’s why we provide them with resources, tools and functionality to confidently grow their businesses and produce stellar shopping experiences for their customers. The results from this year propel us forward to keep making commerce better for everyone.”
This news comes a few weeks after Shopify launched its Buy Online POS. The Buy Online feature asks staff in retail stores to help customers create an online cart while they are in the store, and then email it to them so they can decide if they want to buy it online later. This email attributes sales to the staffer who sent the link and creates a draft order for Shopify. Retailers can use these drafts orders to re-engage customers with email marketing campaigns.
During Black Friday this year, mobile sales added up to 66 percent of orders, while desktop sales accounted for the remaining 34 percent. In a single day more than 600,000 pieces of apparel, 360,000 accessories, and 210,000 houseware items were purchased from Shopify merchants.
Shopify has created a dashboard of a global look at sales and trends on Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, which is available here.
Photo via Unsplash.