Online sales beat records during Brazil's Black Friday

Despite the economic recession – or perhaps because of it – online sales during the Brazilian edition of retail discount event Black Friday, held on November 27, hit record highs.

According to local e-commerce consultancy E-bit, the day generated sales of 1.6bn reais (US$436mn) for online retailers, which was nominal growth of 38% compared to last year's Black Friday.

A total of 2.77mn orders were made, up 24% from last year, at an average value of 580 reais (11% more than in 2014), E-bit said.

Over 1.64mn customers reportedly made at least one online purchase during the day.

Another highlight, according to E-bit, was sales made via mobile devices, which generated 9% of total revenues and represented 11% of total orders.

The leading category in terms of sales was cell phones, accounting for 22.3% of total revenues, followed by household appliances (22%) and electronics (20.8%).

In terms of volumes of orders, household appliances represented 17.2% of the total, followed by cell phones (16.6%), and electronics (9.2%).

CAMARA E-NET

Brazilian e-commerce chamber Câmara-e.net, meanwhile, reported that Brazil's Black Friday sales had risen 76% compared with 2014 to 1.53bn reais, a result that "surprised" the segment, which was expecting sales of 978mn reais.

The chamber says that growth compared with 2010, when the first Brazilian Black Friday was held, was more than 1,500%.

CLEARSALE

According to the data collected by anti-fraud e-commerce solutions firm ClearSale, the Black Friday event generated 1.53bn reais in revenues, up 76% year-on-year and 3.12mn orders, a 49% increase.

ClearSale's survey was commissioned by price comparison website and Brazil's BlackFriday.com.br organizer Busca Descontos.

ClearSale had forecast that this year's Black Friday would generate 978mn reais in sales.

"Even with the unfavorable economic environment, consumers took the opportunity to save money and do their Christmas shopping early," said Juliano Motta, director of the BlackFriday.com.br website.

The categories with most sales recorded by ClearSale were household appliances (370mn reais), cell phones & smartphones (327mn reais), and electronics (240mn reais).