REUTERS, New York/Atlanta

Bargain-hunting Americans clicked their way through Thanksgiving, spending $8.6 billion online so far on Black Friday, as more consumers turned to laptops and phones instead of braving brisk weather to snap up deals over the crucial shopping weekend.

Adobe Analytics, which vets e-commerce transactions online, covering over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites, expects US shoppers will spend between $11.7 billion and $11.9 billion online on Black Friday.

While early online sales figures showed a promising trend for spending, at major retailers - a bulk of Black Friday shopping has happened between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET (1900 GMT), according to data from Adobe Analytics, with another surge expected in the evening. Many of those who ventured out said they were on a budget, fearful of overspending at a time when inflation remains above-trend and the labor market is softening.

“I’m being much more careful,” said Grace Curbelo, 67, of New Rochelle, New York, who was at the Woodbury Common outlet center in Central Valley, New York, on Friday morning. “I’m not sure how the economy will turn, and I don’t want to put myself in debt.”

Strong Black Friday spending has been driven by deeper-than-expected discounts, Adobe said. Online shopping has diluted Black Friday’s significance, with promotions geared towards the event spread across weeks. Adobe Analytics expects Cyber Monday to drive $14.2 billion in online sales, up 6.3 percent from last year, making it the biggest online shopping day of the year.

Shoppers are leaning heavily on promotional codes found online through social media influencers to squeeze out extra discounts during Cyber Week, said Vivek Pandya, director of Adobe Digital Insights at Adobe Analytics.

The specter of higher prices hovered over the day. US retail sales increased less than expected in September, in part due to elevated prices, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs have contributed to this trend, adding roughly 4.9 percentage points to retail prices, according to the non-profit Tax Foundation.

Software firm Salesforce said its early data showed prices in the United States rising faster than worldwide. The average online selling price for goods was 8 percent higher than last year, compared with 5 percent globally, a sign of both the effect of tariffs and spending from affluent households, who have continued to shop while most income groups say their consumer confidence is low.