Black Friday Rules Cyberspace

THAT’S A BEEELION DOLLARS: Black Friday retail sales online this year topped $1 billion for the first time ever, jumping 26% to $1.04 billion from $816 million on the corresponding day last year, according to comScore data. Digital content and subscriptions, including e-books, digital music and video, was the fastest-growing retail category online, with sales up 29% from last year. ShopperTrak, which counts foot traffic in physical retail stores, estimated Black Friday sales of $11.2 billion, down 1.8% from the same day last year. Online sales could top 10% of the total for the first time. ComScore expects online retail spending to rise 17% to $43.4 billion through the whole holiday season. That is above the 15% increase last season and ahead of the retail industry's expectation for a 4.1% increase in overall spending this holiday. Amazon.com was the most visited retail website on Black Friday, with more than 28 million visits, while eBay said the volume of mobile transactions on its marketplace jumped 153% on Black Friday from a year earlier. Insiders are divided whether the heavy online shopping will impact today's Cyber Monday, but get out your credit cards anyway, folks. It’s downright unAmerican not to. (11/26p)