Black Friday shoppers flocked to digital deals in record numbers the day after Thanksgiving, so shorter lines took the place of short tempers at many brick-and-mortar stores.
Strong demand for iPad Air 2s, smartphones, high definition Samsung 4k TVs, gaming systems, Legos and Star Wars merchandise fueled the mobile frenzy, Adobe Systems reported Friday.
Online sales topped $822 million by 11 a.m. and were on track to reach $2.72 billion by day’s end — a 14 percent increase over last year, Adobe said.
That number was slightly weaker than predicted but not surprising after Thursday sales beat projections thanks to a cornucopia of early bird markdowns.
Shoppers spent an eye-popping $1.73 billion online Thursday, a whopping 25 percent increase over last year, Adobe reported.
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“Early morning Black Friday shopping is lower than expected due to the surge of shopping on Thanksgiving Day and many of the most wanted products are already out of stock,” Tamara Gaffney, a principal analyst for the Adobe Digital Index, explained.
The two-day web bargain bonanza took a bite out of Black Friday sales at major malls around the country, where traffic was strong Friday morning but turned “soft” by early afternoon, retail analyst Howard Davidowitz told the Daily News.
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“Black Friday is not disappearing, it’s important, but I do think it has lost some of its luster because retailers are starting earlier and earlier, partly out of desperation, to capture more business,” he said.
“Online growth is spectacular. Everyone is bopping around with these mobile devices, and Amazon is grabbing more and more marketshare,” he said, referring to the web retail behemoth.
Local shoppers looking for big bargains still packed the Toys R Us in Times Square, snapping up hot items for the kids on their lists.
Checkout lines snaked through the store as remote-controlled toy drones flew through the air for the last Black Friday at the sprawling flagship on Broadway near West 44th Street.
The New Jersey-based toy titan is expected to abandon the location by January due to skyrocketing rents.
“We don’t have enough arms,” tourist shopper Rodrigo Carvallo, 41, joked as he picked up Disney-themed toys for his two kids back home in Argentina.
Williamsburg dance instructor Dani Tulley grabbed some actions figures for her son and a giant Barbie for her daughter.
“I work two jobs so it was now or never,” Tulley said Friday. “This isn’t something I usually like to do, contribute to consumerism like this. But I figured if I’m going to shop, I may as well get the deals.”
Tulley, 26, said she wasn’t deterred by the possibility of a terror attack at the packed tourist hotspot.
“That didn’t even enter my mind. We have to go about our lives,” she said.
Overall, the National Retail Federation estimates 135.8 million consumers will shop online and in stores during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Davidowitz said this holiday shopping season should post slightly stronger figures than last year.
“I think it’s a mixed bag,” he told The News. “Some areas are good, like cosmetics, home improvement, auto and off-price retailers. But if you look at department stores, they’re not as strong because they’re selling apparel, and apparel is weak.”
He said slower wage growth and part-time jobs replacing fulltime jobs were partly to blame.
Some brawls did break out at shopping centers around the country, but they weren’t the norm, experts said.
A riot over discounted TVs erupted at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday and was captured on video by shopper Adolfo Arzaga.
“Daamm chaos at walmart,” Arzaga wrote on Facebook before his video got more than ten million views.
A different video of the same melee showed armed police officers trying to break up the crowd as one man took a swing at a cop’s face.
Yet another viral video showed two men punching and slapping each other Thursday at Mall St. Matthews in Louisville, Kentucky.
Police responded and later said the fight may have been staged.
Overall, stores were calmer than in years past, according to Ted Potrikus, president of the Retail Council of New York State.
“I’ve been really impressed this year by the way that the industry has kept the stores safe. The primary way to do that is to have those sales spread out,” he said.
“It kind of calms the tempers down, it calms the pace down,” he said. “We’re trying to take the blood sport out of it.”
