In the US, a record $5.03bn (£3.77bn) was spent online on Black Friday this year representing a 16.9 per cent increase in online sales from the $4.3bn recorded last year.

According to Adobe, which measures 80 per cent of online transactions at the 100 largest US web retailers, $38.3bn was spent by online shoppers in total between 1 November and 24 November – a growth of 17.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

The increases in online spend across the period were driven by continued growth in the number of purchases made via mobile devices. On Black Friday, mobile was responsible for 54.3 per cent of visits and 36.9 per cent of revenue. Smartphones alone contributed 44.6 per cent of visits and 26 per cent of revenue.

Conversion rates were up across all mobile devices, as well as desktop. Tablets enjoyed a 13 per cent YoY growth to reach 5.9 per cent conversion, while smartphones reached 3.5 per cent through an increase of 16.5 per cent and desktop grew to 6.8 per cent on the back of a 13.6 per cent increase in conversion.

Looking ahead, Adobe expects today (Cyber Monday) to become the largest US online shopping day in history, growing 16.5 per cent YoY to generate $6.6bn in sales.

“Shoppers capitalised on deep discounts on Black Friday, resulting in the largest Black Friday online ever with online spend totalling $5.03bn,” said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights. “Conversion rates across all devices saw double digit growth throughout Black Friday… The entire holiday season continues to see exponential growth with Cyber Monday expected to be the largest US online shopping day in history.”