This neat Black Friday and Cyber Monday graphic lets you watch deal hunters rack up purchases - and debt - in real-time. | Source: wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.com
Black Friday spending is off to a record start this year, and analysts predict online sales alone could clear $7.4 billion today. Unfortunately, that means that Americans are likely on track to rack up a record amount of Christmas debt.
Thanks to Shopify, smug personal finance junkies can now gawk at their budget-challenged peers in real-time.
The e-commerce platform unveiled a neat graphic that lets you track Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending at Shopify stores across the world.
As of the time of writing, Shopify stores were raking $1 million in sales per minute while processing roughly 10,000 orders.
If past years are any guide, many of those purchases will be funded with debt.
According to MagnifyMoney’s most recent annual holiday debt survey , US consumers who financed their Christmas spending accumulated an average of $1,230 in debt last year, which was a 17% increase from 2017.
Even worse, more than one-fifth of respondents said they planned to pay off their Christmas debt using minimum payments, which means they’re likely still carrying most of last year’s debt into this year’s holiday shopping season.