Deals galore trumped inflation as shoppers logged on Friday in search of bargains. Online Black Friday sales topped $9 billion according to Adobe Analytics.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 69% of shoppers surveyed for its annual November Holiday Consumer Survey planned to shop during Thanksgiving weekend this year, with 59% saying the deals were the primary motivation. For many, the discounts were just too good to pass up.

Adobe said online sales Friday reached a record $9.12 billion. Sales were $5.3 billion on Thanksgiving and finished at $4.6 billion and $4.95 billion on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Friday’s sales were up 2.3% year over year.

Salesforce had slightly lower figures, at $8 billion on Friday, but noted that online sales increased 12% after rising 9% on Thanksgiving Day.

“While there is much speculation about inflation’s impact on consumer behavior, our data tells us that this Thanksgiving holiday weekend will see robust store traffic with a record number of shoppers taking advantage of value pricing,” Mathew Shay, NRF president and CEO, said last week.

Adobe is predicting Cyber Monday sales to top $11 billion.

One driving factor in the increase in sales is buy now, pay later (BNPL) programs. Adobe said BNPL sales were 78% higher last week compared to the previous one, and revenue from BNPL was up 81% during the period.

“We’re seeing a lot of people leaning on savings and debt to afford a lot of these purchases,” Claire Tassin, Morning Consult’s retail and e-commerce analyst, told Christine Romans, CNN Business’ chief business correspondent. “Even more than credit cards, we’re seeing a lot of people leaning on buy now, pay later services, which is sort of a newer form of debt that American consumers are really embracing.”

According to Salesforce, the number of online orders picked up in store remained steady last week, hovering around 10% most days. Store pickup had spiked to 18% in the second week of November, the firm said, but has remained primarily between 7% and 11% since. Returns of online orders have also remained flat most of November, trending between 7% and 14%.

Retailers have deeply discounted toys and electronics so far this season, Adobe said, with discounts for each category continuing to trend higher. Black Friday saw toy discounts average 31.8% and electronics 23.4%. At the beginning of October, there were almost no discounts available in these categories.

Televisions, appliances and computers have also seen double-digit discounts in recent weeks.

Adobe is predicting overall sales of $209 billion this holiday season.

Click for more articles by Brian Straight.

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