According to analysts, the Black Friday shopping phenomenon has shown signs of moving online, with no repeat of last year’s chaos in some stores.
The 2014 Black Friday saw buyers fighting over bargains, websites crashing and delivery companies struggling to cope.
Black Friday, the discount day has its origins in the US, where it takes place the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally kick-starting the Christmas shopping period.
Online activity is said to be up, but expectations are for a longer period of discounts and shopping.
In the US, some retailers started offering deals early.
Macy’s said about 15,000 shoppers waited outside its Manhattan department store in readiness for its opening on Thanksgiving evening.
Amazon offered discounts in the lead up to the shopping event.
Washington-based National Retail Federation estimates that about 135.8 million Americans will shop during the four-day holiday compared with 133.7 million in 2014.
The US shopping bonanza has spread not only in Europe, but also countries such as Brazil and India.
Black Friday is still dwarfed by China’s Singles Day – the world’s biggest online shopping event. On November 11, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported sales worth 91.2 billion yuan ($14.3 billion), a 60% increase from 2014.
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