Dec 10 (Nikkei) - Canadian e-commerce company Shopify rang up $5.1 billion in global transactions during the crucial Black Friday-Cyber Monday period last month for a 76% increase on the year, and Japan led major markets with a jump of around 350%.
In addition to a boost in demand from people nesting at home, vendors on the Shopify platform doubled down on sales promotions.
The number of customers worldwide who purchased from vendors on Shopify's platform grew 50% on the year to 44 million during the Nov. 27-30 sales event, which coincides with the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the company said. Japanese consumers also were the biggest spenders, shelling out 11,090 yen ($106) on the average purchase.
"We still have a lot of room to grow in the Japanese market," Mark Wang, Shopify's country manager for Japan, told reporters regarding direct-to-consumer transactions, where individuals and companies sell straight to buyers.