Many people have noticed that this year there were no viral videos on the web of people running into a store. Also, many people didn’t visit stores at all on Black Friday.

Everyone is used to people lining up in long lines on this day, then the clerks open the store door and people start running out and buying everything they see. Statistically, this year there were fewer store visitors, especially in smaller towns.

The Black Friday crowd era ended with the pandemic, and it probably won’t return as more shoppers shop online.

Likewise, every year more and more people move to the side of smart and environmentally friendly consumption. None of this goes along with spontaneous shopping.

How did the online sales go?

However, online shopping is different this year than offline. Consumers spent a record $9.12 billion on online shopping during Black Friday this year, according to Adobe, which tracks sales on retailers’ Web sites.

Among the most popular items this year were game consoles, drones, Apple MacBooks, Dyson products and toys such as Fortnite, Roblox, Bluey, and Funko Pop.

On Black Friday, people broke records for mobile orders. There were 48% of online sales made using smartphones, up from 44% last year.