The 2018 holiday fulfillment surge period appears to have kicked-off to a roaring start with new records of Black Friday online holiday sales activity levels.
As we pen this Supply Chain Matters blog midday on the Cyber Monday online shopping holiday, indications are that this year’s holiday surge period has kicked-off to a roaring start. 
According to Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions for 80 of the top 100 Internet retailers in the United States, this year’s Black Friday online shopping holiday amounted to $6.22 billion in online sales, an increase of 23.6 percent from the year-ago period. The Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday also set a new-record for online sales stemming from mobile devices. According to Adobe Analytics, 33.5 percent of Friday’s e-commerce sales stemmed from mobile devices, compared with a reported 29.1 percent in 2017.
Shoppers were noted as purchasing more big-ticket items such as appliances, furniture and bulkier electronics from their mobile devices with average order values up 8.5 percent year over year to reach $146, based on Adobe’s data.
There were added reports indicating that traffic at many shopping malls on Friday were lighter than in past year as consumers apparently turned to their mobile devices and desktop computers to grab holiday bargains. Further data indicates that order online and pick-up a local retail store has surged in popularity as-well.
With today’s Cyber Monday typically averaging over $1 billion plus in online electronics and other sales activities, the combination shopping weekend can well break a number of records in both retail sales and order volumes. The next few weeks will be another critical test for various parcel transportation networks and “last-mile” delivery carriers
