Think Black Friday was big? Online shoppers spent more every day last month

May 17, 2020

By Kim Komando

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be the biggest online shopping days of the year, but they’ve got nothing on April of 2020. Not only did Black Friday 2019 get outsold during that month, but it happened every single day until the First of May.

Why the mad rush? Just like most of the biggest changes in our lives, it all goes back to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brick-and-mortar stores have been shuttered or reduced to curbside pickup, which means online stores like Amazon are filling the void. Tap or click here to see how Amazon’s shipping speeds are starting to pick up again.

Will this shift in buyer habits stick around for the future? Or is it just a passing trend in light of global events. One thing is for certain: The web’s biggest companies may never be the same again.

April 2020 outdoes Black Friday 2019. Every. Single. Day.

To get an idea of how mindboggling of an amount of money comes from Black Friday Sales, one only needs to look at Amazon’s earnings reports. According to CBS News, Amazon made $6.2 billion on Black Friday 2018 and sales were reportedly even higher for Black Friday weekend in 2019.

Now imagine those kinds of numbers happening for 30 straight days. A billion dollars is already an obscene amount of money — enough to live comfortably for several lifetimes without ever having to work. Yet online platforms managed to pull off a solid month of record-breaking sales without doing anything extra.

According to marketing data platform Price Spider, deals weren’t the primary driver for this online sales spike. Instead, people are buying for two primary reasons — both related to the pandemic: Panic and boredom.

With many essentials in low supply, people are turning to online marketplaces to stock up. They’re also buying in bulk like never before, often out of fear of shortages in the future. Tap or click here to see which sites have the items you’re looking for.

In addition, many are buying products like Nintendo Switches, puzzles, or crafts to ease their boredom. Factor in the stimulus checks that most Americans are receiving and you have a recipe for a perfect storm of internet shopping. Tap or click here to see how to track your stimulus check in case you haven’t gotten it yet.

What does this mean for the future of shopping?

As the long-term effects of COVID-19 on our society remain to be seen, signs point towards a more cautious future where people are less willing to spend long hours browsing in stores. Online shopping shares none of the health risks that come with visiting brick-and-mortar locations, which means malls as we know them might change forever.

We also might see consolidation in merchants as time goes on. Large-scale retailers like Walmart, Target and others may stick around, but niche stores and smaller businesses will be left to flounder as demand for a wider variety of goods increases.

This also spells good fortune for companies like Amazon, which saw insane Q1 revenues of more than $75 billion this year. At this rate, some analysts are beginning to speculate that Jeff Bezos might end up becoming the world’s first bonafide Trillionaire before too long. That’s “Trillionaire” with a “T.” Can you even imagine?

At a One Trillion dollar net worth, Jeff Bezos would have more purchasing power than the entirety of The Netherlands’ GDP. That’s an entire country!

As we brace ourselves for a post-COVID-19 world, we might start having to prepare ourselves for a post-trillionaire world as well. Who knows what that will look like. Tap or click here to see Amazon’s future army of delivery drones.